
New Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, has appointed his new cabinet, which elevates numerous figures with links to Stockport and South Manchester into senior roles in government.
Bringing a Stockport voice to the upper tiers of government, Deputy Labour Leader, Angela Rayner, will serve as Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Educated at Stockport Academy in Cheadle Heath (formerly Avondale School) and Stockport College, Rayner previously worked as a social worker for Stockport Council before becoming a union rep and entering politics, entering the House of Commons as MP for Ashton-under-Lyne in 2015.
Other MPs with links to the local area attending Cabinet include Culture Secretary, Lisa Nandy, and Leader of the House, Lucy Powell, who were both educated at Parrs Wood High School, on the Manchester-Stockport border.
Starmer’s appointments include much of his Shadow Cabinet from time in opposition, as well as experienced figures who retake roles held during the previous Labour administration, including former Labour leader, Ed Milliband who takes up the Energy and Net Zero brief having previously been Energy and Climate Change Secretary from 2008-2010.
Other appointments bring well-known experts into government roles, including Sir Patrick Vallance, formerly the UK’s Chief Scientific Officer and a familiar face from the Covid-19 pandemic briefings, and James Timpson, boss of Wythenshawe-based Timpson Group, who will serve as Prisons Minister, echoing his advocacy for rehabilitating ex-offenders back into the workforce.
Ministerial appointments include:
- Angela Rayner MP as Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. She will also be Deputy Prime Minister
- Rachel Reeves MP as Chancellor of the Exchequer
- Pat McFadden MP as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
- David Lammy MP as Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
- Yvette Cooper MP as Secretary of State for the Home Department
- John Healey MP as Secretary of State for Defence
- Shabana Mahmood MP as Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
- Wes Streeting MP as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
- Bridget Phillipson MP as Secretary of State for Education and Minister for Women and Equalities
- Ed Miliband MP as Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
- Liz Kendall MP as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
- Jonathan Reynolds MP as Secretary of State for Business and Trade and President of the Board of Trade
- Peter Kyle MP as Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
- Louise Haigh MP as Secretary of State for Transport
- Steve Reed OBE MP as Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
- Lisa Nandy MP as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
- Hilary Benn MP as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
- Ian Murray MP as Secretary of State for Scotland
- Jo Stevens MP as Secretary of State for Wales
- Lucy Powell MP as Lord President of the Council, and Leader of the House of Common
- Baroness Smith of Basildon as Lord Privy Seal, and Leader of the House of Lords
- Sir Alan Campbell MP as Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury (Chief Whip)
- Darren Jones MP as Chief Secretary to the Treasury
- Richard Hermer KC as Attorney General
- Sir Patrick Vallance KCB as a Minister of State (Minister for Science) in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
- James Timpson OBE as a Minister of State (Minister for Prisons, Parole and Probation) in the Ministry of Justice
- Matthew Pennycook MP as a Minister of State in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
- Douglas Alexander MP as a Minister of State in the Department for Business and Trade
- Anneliese Dodds MP as a Minister of State in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and as a Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities) in the Department for Education
- Sarah Jones MP as a Minister of State in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and the Department for Business and Trade
- Alison McGovern MP as a Minister of State in the Department for Work and Pensions
- Sir Stephen Timms MP as a Minister of State in the Department for Work and Pensions
- Sir Chris Bryant MP as a Minister of State in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Department for Culture, Media and Sports
- Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill CBE as a Minister of State in the Department for Transport