Who is Laura Trott? Tory minister sat next to Rishi Sunak during Budget

All eyes were on the Conservative Party on Wednesday as the Chancellor delivered what was likely the last Budget before the next general election – leading many to ask who was sitting beside the Prime Minister in the House of Commons throughout Jeremy Hunt’s statement.

The minister in question was Laura Trott, the Chief Tecretary to the Treasury who became MP for Sevenoaks in Kent in 2019.

As Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s, deputy, she appeared on a number of news channels immediately after the Budget, defending her boss’s plans.

In response to accusations he had poached Labour’s flagship tax policy by announcing he would overhaul non-dom tax status, Ms Trott dismissed allegations of foul play as Labour’s “an excuse to try and wriggle out of” its “disastrous £28bn of unfunded spending”.

She also made headlines in February when Labour accused her of not knowing “the basic facts of her job”, after she struggled to answer questions about the rise in national debt.

Here is everything you need to know about the Tory MP.

Who is Laura Trott?

Ms Trott was born in 1983 and grew up in Oxted, Surrey. With then- PMJohn Major acting as an early influence on her political beliefs, Ms Trott decided to join the Conservative Party as a teenager.

After graduating from the University of Oxford with a degree in history and economics, she became a strategy consultant at PR firm Booz & Company.

At the age of 26, Ms Trott became a Conservative Party councillor in the London Borough of Camden, where she served for four years.

That same year, she also became a special adviser to Francis Maude, then minister for the Cabinet Office.

Ms Trott went on to have a number of advisory roles under PM David Cameron and was eventually promoted to director of strategic communications.

After Theresa May’s general election in 2017, she left politics for a few years, before joining the Commons as an MP at the 2019 general election, taking over the safe Conservative seat of Sevenoaks from her predecessor Michael Fallon.

Under Boris Johnson’s premiership, Ms Trott was a member of the Health and Social Care Select Committee, helped steer the China Research Group committee, and became a junior minister at the Department for Transport.

She resigned from the government during the final days of Mr Johnson’s time as leader of the Conservative Party, before returning as parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Department for Work and Pensions in 2022.

A year later, Ms Trott was promoted to Chief Secretary to the Treasury, during Risahi Sunak’s second Cabinet reshuffle.

Who is Laura Trott’s partner?

Ms Trott is married to Bahador “Bids” Mahvelati, who is a partner at PwC, where he has worked since 2014. Together, the couple have three children: a daughter and twin sons. The family live in her constituency of Sevenoaks.