Yvette Cooper promoted and Lisa Nandy to shadow Gove on levelling up brief in Labour reshuffle
Yvette Cooper is elevated to shadow home secretary while Lisa Nandy will move from shadow foreign secretary to the levelling up brief as Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer reshuffles his cabinet.
Ms Cooper, who held the home affairs brief previously from 2011 to 2015 under former Labour leader Ed Miliband, will depart her current role as chair of the influential Commons home affairs select committee in returning to the shadow cabinet.
Ms Nandy will now shadow Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove, while David Lammy has been promoted into her former shadow foreign secretary role from the justice brief.
New shadow cabinet roles revealed in Starmer’s surprise Labour shake-up – live updates
Lisa Nandy is moving from shadow foreign secretary to shadow levelling up secretary against Michael Gove, Sky News understands
Others who have been boosted to more prominent positions in Sir Keir’s top team include Wes Streeting who moves to shadow health secretary and Bridget Phillipson who will transfer from shadow chief secretary to the Treasury to shadow education secretary.
Meanwhile, Jonathan Ashworth, who has had the health brief through the pandemic, moves to shadow work and pensions secretary and said he was “excited” for the new role.
Former holder of the education brief Kate Green has been removed from the shadow cabinet alongside the previous shadow Wales secretary Nia Griffith and former environment secretary Luke Pollard.
Earlier on Monday, former shadow minister for young people and democracy Cat Smith and former shadow attorney general Lord Falconer said announced that they were also stepping down from Labour’s frontbench.
Sir Keir’s top team now includes:
• Angela Rayner as deputy leader, shadow first secretary of state, shadow chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster and shadow secretary of state for the future of work
• Rachel Reeves as shadow chancellor
• David Lammy as shadow foreign secretary
• Yvette Cooper as shadow home secretary
• Wes Streeting as shadow health secretary
• Lisa Nandy as shadow levelling up, housing, communities and local government secretary
• Jonathan Reynolds as shadow business secretary
• Ed Miliband as shadow climate change and net zero secretary
• John Healey as shadow defence secretary
• Lucy Powell as shadow digital, culture, media and sport secretary
• Bridget Phillipson as shadow education secretary
• Jim McMahon as shadow environment secretary
• Nick Thomas-Symonds as shadow international trade secretary
• Steve Reed as shadow justice secretary
• Louise Haigh as shadow transport secretary
• Jenny Chapman as shadow cabinet office minister
• Louise Haigh as shadow transport secretary
• Anneliese Dodds as women and equalities secretary and Labour Party chair
• Jonathan Ashworth as shadow work and pensions secretary
• Emily Thornberry as shadow attorney general
• Jo Stevens as shadow Wales secretary
• Ian Murray as shadow Scotland secretary
• Peter Kyle as shadow Northern Ireland secretary
• Thangam Debbonaire as shadow Commons leader
• Dr Rosena Allin-Khan as shadow mental health minister
• Preet Gill as shadow international development minister
• Pat McFadden as chief secretary to the Treasury
• Alan Campbell as shadow chief whip
• Angela Smith as shadow leader of the House of Lords
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is carrying out a reshuffle for the first time in six months
In a statement, Sir Keir said: “With this reshuffle, we are a smaller, more focused shadow cabinet that mirrors the shape of the government we are shadowing.
“We must hold the Conservative government to account on behalf of the public and demonstrate that we are the right choice to form the next government.”
The Labour leader said he is “delighted” to have appointed Ms Nandy to the foreign affairs brief, adding that “there will be nobody better than Lisa to lead this work”.
Ed Miliband will take on the climate brief
Meanwhile, Mr Miliband “will lead in the shadow cabinet to develop Labour’s extensive plans for net zero in a first term Labour government, and hold the government to account for its failure to take action”, Sir Keir said.
The reshuffle comes six months after Sir Keir‘s last refresh of his shadow cabinet, in the wake of a mixed night for Labour in May’s elections across the UK.
Posting on social media, Mr Lammy said he was “honoured” to be appointed shadow foreign secretary and praised his predecessor Ms Nandy for “holding the Tories’ feet to the fire”.
“Honoured to be appointed shadow secretary of state for foreign, commonwealth & development affairs. At a time when Britain is recasting itself on the world stage, I look forward to setting out Labour’s vision for a values-led foreign policy based on cooperation & internationalism,” Mr Lammy said.
David Lammy has been promoted to the foreign affairs brief
Newly-appointed shadow health secretary Mr Streeting tweeted: “Delighted to have been appointed as shadow health and social care secretary.
“This year the NHS saved my life and staff across health and social care are getting us through the worst pandemic in living memory. Labour created the NHS. We’ll make it fit for the future.”
Earlier this year, Mr Streeting was diagnosed with kidney cancer and had a kidney removed.
Some have suggested the shake-up came about quite abruptly.
Speaking earlier on Monday morning at an event in Westminster amid swirling reshuffle rumours, Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said: “I don’t know the details of the reshuffle or the timing of it, I’ve been here concentrating on my role now.
Wes Streeting will take over as shadow health secretary
“But six months ago I said again we need some consistency in how we’re approaching things as an opposition. I want us to see us as a government in waiting, I want us to do that job.”
Sky’s political correspondent Kate McCann reported that Ms Rayner did get a call from Sir Keir on Monday morning to say she would keep her role, but was not given any detail or consulted about the reshuffle itself.
Posting on social media, Mr Lammy said he was “honoured” to be appointed shadow foreign secretary and praised his predecessor Ms Nandy for “holding the Tories’ feet to the fire”.
“Honoured to be appointed shadow secretary of state for foreign, commonwealth & development affairs. At a time when Britain is recasting itself on the world stage, I look forward to setting out Labour’s vision for a values-led foreign policy based on cooperation & internationalism,” Mr Lammy said.
Cat Smith was the first person to depart the shadow cabinet on Monday
While announcing her departure from Sir Keir’s shadow cabinet, Ms Smith tweeted out a copy of a letter she had sent to the Labour leader, warning Sir Keir of the “damage” being done by Jeremy Corbyn remaining suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party.
Sir Keir’s previous reshuffle provoked controversy within the party when he sacked Ms Rayner as Labour Party chair.
Several Democratic lawmakers have said that they will not vote to pass crypto regulations if potential conflicts of interest are not addressed.
Nick van Eck, co-founder and CEO of Agora, behind one of the stablecoins Anchorage said it would phase out, claimed inaccuracies and an inconsistently applied framework.
Sir Keir Starmer said changes to his welfare bill “strike the right balance” after making concessions to his backbench MPs.
The prime minister described the U-turn as “common sense” and said it means “we can now get on with the job”.
Politics Live: Starmer defends U-turn
Sir Keir faced a significant rebellion over plans to cut sickness and disability benefits as part of a package he said would shave £5bn off the welfare bill and get more people into work.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, he stood by his position that the welfare system needs reform as “it doesn’t work, and it traps people”.
He added: “We need to get it right. That’s why we’ve been talking to colleagues and having a constructive discussion.
“We’ve now arrived at a package that delivers on the principles with some adjustments, and that’s the right reform, and I’m really pleased now that we’re able to take this forward.
“For me, getting that package adjusted in that way is the right thing to do, it means it’s the right balance, it’s common sense that we can now get on with it.”
The concessions include exempting existing Personal Independence Payment claimants (PIP) from the stricter new criteria, while the universal credit health top-up will only be cut and frozen for new applications.
Analysis: Welfare bill U-turn a humiliating blow for Starmer
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“No leadership” in Labour says MP
More money will also be front-loaded into helping people find jobs, though it is not clear how much beyond the £1bn already announced.
The changes came after 127 Labour MPs signed an amendment calling for the cuts to be delayed and consulted on with disabled people.
Rebels feared the reforms wouldn’t actually help people find work while pushing thousands of disabled people and children into poverty, as per the government’s own impact assessment.
The discontent threatened to derail the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill when it comes before the Commons for a vote on Tuesday, on the week that marks a year of Starmer in government.
Asked what he would do about a “hole” in the public finances that the changes are said to leave, Sir Keir said the funding will be set out in the autumn budget “in the usual way”.
The concessions on PIP alone will protect an estimated 370,000 people currently receiving the allowance who were set to lose out following reassessment.
Economists at the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the Resolution Foundation have both suggested that the changes could reduce savings intended in the original package by up to £3bn.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves is also under pressure to find money to pay for the U-turn on cuts to winter fuel, which followed a drubbing at the local elections in May.
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‘This week is going to haunt the prime minister,’ says Sky’s Ali Fortescue .
Asked about the series of U-turns, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall earlier said: “Sometimes there’s strength in listening.
“I really believe that to be the case, that you end up in the right position when you talk to all of those with knowledge and experience and actually, if you want decisions to be the right ones and to last for generations to come, I believe that’s how you make the right changes.”
However, she would not guarantee the bill will pass next week.
Some 83 Labour MPs would need to rebel for the government to be defeated.
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Govt makes offer to rebels on welfare reforms
Last night Dame Meg Hillier, one of the leading rebel voices, hailed the concessions as “massive changes” to protect vulnerable people and involve disabled people in the design of future reforms.
However, not all the rebels have been satisfied with the changes, with several suggesting they would create a “two-tier system”. Sky News is aware of at least 20 MPs who currently intend to still vote against. Many others are undecided.
The concessions came after Downing Street publicly stuck to its guns while engaging in a frantic ring-around to get rebels onside, which further angered MPs.
Many have called for a reset in relations with Downing Street, as the fallout from the rebellion threatens to cause lasting damage.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch criticised the U-turn, saying the government’s failure to make “minor savings” on welfare showed they were unable to deal with major issues.
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