Leader in Public Affairs: Erin Mansell, Deputy Director and Head of External Affairs, Women’s Budget Group, “Feminists generally get a bad rap for being serious”

Mace | 8th October 2026 | In-House Public Affairs, Westminster Index

At the Women’s Budget Group, debates about fiscal rules, welfare reform and public spending land directly on the lives of women, carers and disabled people.

“I loved working in parliament and understanding better the link between policy making and scrutiny,” says Erin Mansell. That spell, on secondment from the National Audit Office to work to the Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, set the direction for the next phase of her career. From there, she moved into party politics as Political Advisor at the Women’s Equality Party. That route matters, because Mansell’s work now sits in a part of public affairs where policy is not an abstract exercise. At the Women’s Budget Group, debates about fiscal rules, welfare reform and public spending land directly on the lives of women, carers and disabled people. Her answer to what keeps her up at night is unusually precise: “The limitations of the current fiscal rules for government ambition for the things that would make the biggest difference for many women in the UK – investing in care.” It is a neat summary of the organisation’s wider purpose. The Women’s Budget Group has long argued that econo...

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