Secretary of State for Business and Trade

For the UK Government department, see Department for Business and Trade.

The secretary of state for business and trade (business secretary), is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Department for Business and Trade. The incumbent is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom.

United Kingdom Secretary of State for Business and Trade
Royal Arms of His Majesty's Government
Incumbent Jonathan Reynolds since 5 July 2024
Department for Business and Trade
Style	Business Secretary (informal) The Right Honourable (UK and the Commonwealth)
Status	Secretary of State Minister of the Crown
Member of	Cabinet Privy Council Board of Trade
Reports to	The Prime Minister
Appointer	The Monarch (on the advice of the Prime Minister)
Formation	20 October 1963: (as Secretary of State for Industry, Trade and Regional Development) 7 February 2023: (as Secretary of State for Business and Trade)
First holder	Edward Heath (as Secretary of State for Industry, Trade and Regional Development)
Salary	£159,038 per annum (2022)[1] (including £86,584 MP salary)[2]
Website	Department for Business and Trade

The incumbent business secretary is Jonathan Reynolds who was appointed by Keir Starmer on 5 July 2024.^[3] The Secretary of State is shadowed by the Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade, currently Kevin Hollinrake since 2024.

Responsibilities

Corresponding to what is generally known as a commerce minister in many other countries, the business secretary's remit includes:

• Relations with domestic and international business
• Policy relating to deregulation
• Policy relating to international trade and trade agreements
• Import and export policy

History

During the government of Sir Alec Douglas-Home, the then president of the Board of Trade, Edward Heath, was given in addition the job of secretary of state for industry, trade and regional development. This title was not continued under Harold Wilson, but when Heath became Prime Minister in 1970 he decided to merge functions of the Board of Trade and the Ministry of Technology to create the Department of Trade and Industry. The head of this department became known as the secretary of state for trade and industry and also retained the title of President of the Board of Trade.

When Harold Wilson re-entered office in March 1974, the office was split into the Department of Trade, the Department of Industry and the Department of Prices and Consumer Protection, resulting in the creation of three new positions: Secretary of State for Industry, Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection, and Secretary of State for Trade. The title President of the Board of Trade became the secondary title of the Secretary of State for Trade. By 1979 the Department of Prices and Consumer Protection was abolished by the incoming Conservative government and its responsibilities were reintegrated into the Department of Trade. Furthermore, 1983 the offices of trade and industry were remerged and the title of Secretary of State for Trade and Industry was recreated. When Michael Heseltine held this office, he preferred to be known by the older title of President of the Board of Trade, and this practice was also followed by Ian Lang and Margaret Beckett. Heseltine's decision to reuse the old title caused some controversy, and it was discovered^{[by whom?]} that the Board of Trade had not in fact met since the mid-nineteenth century.^{[citation needed]}

Under Gordon Brown's premiership there were two re-namings of the role and three re-alignments of responsibility. In his first cabinet of 2007, he called the post Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. With this change, the Better Regulation Executive was added to the department but the Office of Science and Innovation was lost. In 2008, the title remained the same but responsibility for energy was lost. In 2009, the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills was merged into the existing department and the post became Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills.

In July 2016, Prime Minister Theresa May decided to merge the Department for Energy and Climate Change into this department with the responsibilities for post-19 education and skills being returned to the Department for Education resulting in the position being renamed to Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. At the same time in July 2016, the post of President of the Board of Trade was transferred to the newly created post of Secretary of State for International Trade.^[4]

The current role of Secretary of State for Business and Trade was established on 7 February 2023 after a cabinet reshuffle by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak saw the dissolution of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and its responsibilities transferred to three new departments: Department for Business and Trade, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. The new Department for Business and Trade absorbed the business policy responsibilities of BEIS, and the functions of the former Department for International Trade.

List of secretaries of state

Industry, trade and regional development (1963–1964)

Secretary of State			Took office	Left office	Political party	Prime Minister
		Edward Heath MP for Bexley	20 October 1963	16 October 1964	Conservative		Alec Douglas-Home

Trade and industry (1970–1974)

Secretary of State			Took office	Left office	Political party	Prime Minister
		John Davies MP for Knutsford	15 October 1970	5 November 1972	Conservative		Edward Heath
		Peter Walker MP for Worcester	5 November 1972	4 March 1974	Conservative

Industry-prices-trade (1974–1983)

Secretary of State for Industry				Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection				Secretary of State for Trade				Political party	Prime Minister
Name		Took office	Left office	Name		Took office	Left office	Name		Took office	Left office
	Tony Benn MP for Bristol South East	5 March 1974	10 June 1975		Shirley Williams MP for Hertford and Stevenage	5 March 1974	10 September 1976		Peter Shore MP for Stepney and Poplar	5 March 1974	8 April 1976	Labour		Harold Wilson
	Eric Varley MP for Chesterfield	10 June 1975	4 May 1979
									Edmund Dell MP for Birkenhead	8 April 1976	11 November 1978			James Callaghan
					Roy Hattersley MP for Birmingham Sparkbrook	10 September 1976	4 May 1979
									John Smith MP for North Lanarkshire	11 November 1978	4 May 1979
	Keith Joseph MP for Leeds North East	4 May 1979	14 September 1981	Department abolished 1979. (Responsibilities transferred to the Department for Trade.)					John Nott MP for St Ives	5 May 1979	5 January 1981	Conservative		Margaret Thatcher
									John Biffen MP for Oswestry	5 January 1981	6 April 1982
	Patrick Jenkin MP for Wanstead and Woodford	14 September 1981	12 June 1983
									The Lord Cockfield	6 April 1982	12 June 1983
Departments merged in 1983 and responsibilities transferred to the Department for Trade and Industry.

Trade and industry (1983–2007)

Secretary of State			Took office	Left office	Political party	Cabinet	Prime minister
		Cecil Parkinson MP for Hertsmere	12 June 1983	11 October 1983	Conservative	Thatcher II		Margaret Thatcher
		Norman Tebbit MP for Chingford	16 October 1983	2 September 1985	Conservative
		Leon Brittan MP for Richmond (Yorks)	2 September 1985	22 January 1986	Conservative
		Paul Channon MP for Southend West	24 January 1986	13 June 1987	Conservative
		The Lord Young of Graffham	13 June 1987	24 July 1989	Conservative	Thatcher III
		Nicholas Ridley MP for Cirencester and Tewkesbury	24 July 1989	13 July 1990	Conservative
		Peter Lilley MP for St Albans	14 July 1990	10 April 1992	Conservative
						Major I		John Major
		Michael Heseltine[a] MP for Henley	10 April 1992	5 July 1995	Conservative	Major II
		Ian Lang[a] MP for Galloway and Upper Nithsdale	5 July 1995	2 May 1997	Conservative
		Margaret Beckett[a] MP for Derby South	2 May 1997	27 July 1998	Labour	Blair I		Tony Blair
		Peter Mandelson MP for Hartlepool	27 July 1998	23 December 1998	Labour
		Stephen Byers MP for North Tyneside	23 December 1998	8 June 2001	Labour
		Patricia Hewitt MP for Leicester West	8 June 2001	6 May 2005	Labour	Blair II
		Alan Johnson[b] MP for Hull West and Hessle	6 May 2005	5 May 2006	Labour	Blair III
		Alistair Darling MP for Edinburgh South West	5 May 2006	27 June 2007	Labour
Department abolished 2007. Responsibilities transferred to the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills.

1. Primarily referred to as President of the Board of Trade, and not as Secretary of State for Trade and Industry
2. Alan Johnson was initially announced on 6 May 2005, after the general election, as being "Secretary of State for Productivity, Energy and Industry and President of the Board of Trade", but after just a week, on 13 May, it was declared that the new title would not be used, after widespread derision of the new name, because the abbreviation for Johnson's title, Productivity, Energy and Industry Secretary, would have been "PENIS".^[5]

Business, enterprise and regulatory reform (2007–2009)

Secretary of State			Took office	Left office	Political party	Cabinet	Prime Minister
		John Hutton MP for Barrow and Furness	28 June 2007	3 October 2008	Labour	Brown		Gordon Brown
		The Lord Mandelson	3 October 2008	5 June 2009	Labour
Department abolished 2009. Responsibilities transferred to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Business, innovation and skills (2009–2016)

Secretary of State			Took office	Left office	Political party	Cabinet	Prime Minister
		The Lord Mandelson	5 June 2009	11 May 2010	Labour	Brown		Gordon Brown
		Vince Cable MP for Twickenham	12 May 2010	8 May 2015	Liberal Democrats	Cameron-Clegg		David Cameron
		Sajid Javid MP for Bromsgrove	11 May 2015	14 July 2016	Conservative	Cameron II
Department abolished 2016. Responsibilities transferred to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Energy and climate change (2008–2016)

Secretary of State			Term of office		Political party	Cabinet	Prime Minister
		Ed Miliband MP for Doncaster North	3 October 2008	11 May 2010	Labour	Brown		Gordon Brown
		Chris Huhne MP for Eastleigh	12 May 2010	3 February 2012	Liberal Democrats	Cameron-Clegg		David Cameron
		Ed Davey MP for Kingston and Surbiton	3 February 2012	8 May 2015	Liberal Democrats
		Amber Rudd MP for Hastings and Rye	11 May 2015	14 July 2016	Conservative	Cameron II
Department abolished 2016. Responsibilities transferred to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Business, energy and industrial strategy (2016–2023)

Secretary of State			Took office	Left office	Political party	Cabinet	Prime Minister
		Greg Clark MP for Tunbridge Wells	14 July 2016	24 July 2019	Conservative	May I		Theresa May
						May II
		Andrea Leadsom MP for South Northamptonshire	24 July 2019	13 February 2020	Conservative	Johnson I		Boris Johnson
						Johnson II
		Alok Sharma MP for Reading West	13 February 2020	8 January 2021	Conservative
		Kwasi Kwarteng MP for Spelthorne	8 January 2021	6 September 2022	Conservative
		Jacob Rees-Mogg MP for North East Somerset	6 September 2022	25 October 2022	Conservative	Truss		Liz Truss
		Grant Shapps MP for Welwyn Hatfield	25 October 2022	7 February 2023	Conservative	Sunak		Rishi Sunak
Department abolished February 2023. Responsibilities distributed to the newly created Departments for Business and Trade, Energy Security and Net Zero, and Science, Innovation and Technology.

Business and trade (2023–present)

Secretary of State			Took office	Left office	Political party	Cabinet	Prime Minister
		Kemi Badenoch MP for Saffron Walden	7 February 2023	5 July 2024	Conservative	Sunak		Rishi Sunak
		Jonathan Reynolds MP for Stalybridge and Hyde	5 July 2024	Incumbent	Labour	Starmer		Keir Starmer

Timeline

References

1. "Salaries of Members of His Majesty's Government – Financial Year 2022–23" (PDF). 15 December 2022.
2. "Pay and expenses for MPs". parliament.uk. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
3. "Politics news - latest: New Tory party chair confirmed - as Rishi Sunak announces changes to top team". Sky News. Retrieved 7 February 2023.
4. "Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade". gov.uk.
5. "Profile: Alan Johnson". The Daily Telegraph. London. 18 June 2005.