Edward Michael "Ed" Balls, MP (born 25 February 1967) is a British politician, and Labour and Co-operative Member of Parliament for the West Yorkshire constituency of Normanton. Although he only became an MP in 2005, at the beginning of the current Parliament, he has been an advisor to Prime Minister Gordon Brown since 1994, and is regarded as one of Brown's key lieutenants. Since June 2007 he has been Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families.

Balls was born in Norwich, Norfolk and educated at Crossdale Drive Primary School in Keyworth, Notts and then the independent fee-paying boys Nottingham High School. He studied PPE at Keble College, Oxford, and later attended Harvard University as a Kennedy Scholar. He joined the Labour Party at the age of 16 but while at Oxford joined all the main political societies, including the Conservative Association, so that he could "hear all the speeches at all the political clubs".

His career began as economic leader writer at the Financial Times (1990–94) before his appointment as an economic adviser to the then shadow chancellor Gordon Brown (1994–97).