Benn to shadow Pickles in new Labour team

7 Oct 11
Former environment minister Hilary Benn will shadow Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles following Ed Miliband’s reshuffle of his top team today.

By Richard Johnstone | 7 October 201

Former environment minister Hilary Benn will shadow Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles following Ed Miliband’s reshuffle of his top team today.

Andy Burnham, who served as health secretary in the last Labour government, moves into the health role from education.

These were two of the wide-ranging changes to the shadow Cabinet announced by the Labour leader, which he said would ‘bring forward a new generation of Labour talent’. The education post will be filled by former schools minister Stephen Twigg, who returned to the Commons last year after losing his Enfield Southgate seat in 2005.

Other MPs elected in 2010 also take on shadow Cabinet positions and include Rachel Reeves as shadow chief secretary to the Treasury and Chuka Umunna as shadow business, innovation and skills secretary.

Former shadow local government minister Caroline Flint moves to the energy and climate change portfolio, replacing Meg Hillier, who leaves the shadow Cabinet. Others standing down from their frontbench duties include John Healey at health and John Denham at the DBIS. Denham has also announced that he will stand down as an MP at the next election.

Shadow deputy prime minister Harriet Harman is now also shadow culture, media and sport secretary, swapping posts with Ivan Lewis, who takes the international development brief.

Senior figures including shadow chancellor Ed Balls, shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander and shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper remain in their posts.

Former Scottish Executive minister Margaret Curran, who also entered the House of Commons in 2010, has been appointed shadow Scottish secretary, while Peter Hain retains the position for Wales. Vernon Coaker takes the position of shadow Northern Ireland secretary from Shaun Woodward, who returns to the backbenches.

Miliband’s reshuffle follows the decision of the Labour Party conference last month to scrap elections for the shadow Cabinet posts, voted for by MPs.

Miliband said: ‘My decision to appoint half-a-dozen members of the 2010 intake shows the talent that Labour has and the way in which this new generation can join us in taking Labour’s agenda forward.

‘Together we will show how the government are failing to help families who face a cost of living crisis, how they are failing to take action on energy bills and rail fares and failing to get the economy moving again.’

A full list of shadow cabinet positions is available here.

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