KEIR Starmer is carrying out a reshuffle of his junior ministers, with Scottish Labour MP Michael Shanks handed a second ministerial role.
A wider junior ministerial reshuffle has taken place as Starmer seeks to draw a line under the fallout from former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner’s departure.
Shanks, the UK Government's Energy Minister, was elected to replace former SNP MP Margaret Ferrier in a by-election held in Rutherglen and Hamilton West in 2023.
He will now also be a minister in the Department for Business and Trade.
Maria Eagle MP and Catherine McKinnell MP both left Government, with Rachel Reeves's sister Ellie Reeves appointed solicitor general and Sarah Jones takes a new role in the Home Office as policing minister.
The following appointments have been made:
- Dame Angela Eagle has been moved from the Home Office to serve as a minister in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
- Dame Diana Johnson, the former policing minister, will serve as a minister in the Department for Work and Pensions.
- Sarah Jones, who has served in both the Department for Business and Trade and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, has been appointed a Home Office minister.
- Jason Stockwood as investment minister jointly in the Department for Business and Trade and HM Treasury.
- Dan Jarvis as Cabinet Office minister. He will remain a minister in the Home Office.
- Baroness Smith of Malvern as skills minister in the Department for Work and Pensions, remaining as minister for women and equalities.
- Lord Vallance as energy minister, remaining as science minister.
- Michael Shanks as a minister jointly in the Department for Business and Trade and Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.
- Alison McGovern as a minister in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
Number 10 said the reshuffle was focused on “delivery,” including in areas like economic growth and securing borders, and sources suggested the changes will give ministers a renewed sense of purpose.
Starmer is now seeking to reset his Government following a summer dominated by criticism of the small boats crisis and speculation about tax rises in the autumn Budget.
He also now faces the prospect of a party conference overshadowed by manoeuvring for the deputy leadership role vacated by Rayner, who was popular among grassroots and seen as a bridge between Government and the wider party.
