Former shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy has been named the new shadow levelling up secretary in Sir Keir Starmer’s latest reshuffle.
Her appointment was one of a number of moves by the Labour leader, which also saw the return of Brownite Yvette Cooper to the opposition front benches as shadow home secretary.
The former shadow secretary for communities and local government, Steve Reed, never had his title upgraded to shadow secretary for levelling up, communities and housing when Michael Gove was appointed to the new role.
But he too has been promoted, with Sir Keir naming Mr Reed as shadow justice secretary and Lord Chancellor.
In other moves, David Lammy has been named shadow foreign secretary, replacing Ms Nandy, and Wes Streeting moves to become shadow health secretary, following Jonathan Ashworth who is now shadow work and pensions.
The move comes amid growing concerns that Sir Keir has failed to cut through to voters. It also appears to have blindsided the party’s deputy leader Angela Rayner, who denied there were plans for a reshuffle yesterday morning.
Sir Keir said he was ‘particularly delighted’ at Ms Nandy’s appointment. ‘After 11 years of Conservative mismanagement of our economy, delivering prosperity to all regions and nations in the UK will be a defining mission of the next Labour government, and there will be nobody better than Lisa to lead this work,’ he said.
Shadow posts:
Lisa Nandy – levelling up, communities and local government secretary
Steve Reed – justice secretary
Wes Streeting – health and social care secretary
Bridget Phillipson – education secretary
Louise Haigh – transport secretary
Yvette Cooper – home secretary
David Lammy – foreign secretary
Ed Miliband – climate change secretary
John Healey – defence secretary
Jonathan Reynolds – business secretary
Nick Thomas-Symonds – international trade
Emily Thornberry – attorney-general
Jonathan Ashworth – work and pensions secretary
Lucy Powell – culture secretary
Jo Stevens – Wales secretary
Peter Kyle - Northern Ireland secretary