West Yorkshire MP returns as shadow home secretary
Yvette Cooper has been named in Labour's top team, after Sir Keir Starmer carried out a reshuffle
West Yorkshire MP Yvette Cooper returns to Labour's frontbench as Sir Keir Starmer carried out a wide-ranging reshuffle of his top team.
Ms. Cooper, a former cabinet minister and the current chair of the Commons Home Affairs Committee, will take on Priti Patel as shadow home secretary.
Rising stars Bridget Phillipson and Wes Streeting were handed big roles, as shadow education secretary and shadow health secretary respectively.
Jonathan Ashworth, who has had the health brief through the pandemic, is moved to shadow work and pensions secretary.
"More focused" shadow cabinet
In other moves, Lisa Nandy will face off against Michael Gove as shadow secretary for levelling up and communities. She will be replaced as shadow foreign secretary by David Lammy.
Former leader Ed Miliband becomes shadow climate change secretary, while Jonathan Reynolds takes on his former portfolio of business, energy and industrial strategy.
"With this reshuffle we are a smaller, more focused shadow cabinet that mirrors the shape of the Government we are shadowing," Sir Keir said.
"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."
Earlier it appeared the reshuffle would be overshadowed as tensions resurfaced between Sir Keir and his deputy, Angela Rayner.
Ms Rayner appeared to be blindsided when news of the reshuffle broke, as she was delivering a keynote speech on Labour's plans for reforming standards in public life.
"I don't know the details of the reshuffle or the timing of it," she said in response to reporters' questions.
"I've been here concentrating on my role now, but six months ago I said again, we need some consistency in how we're approaching things as an opposition."
A spokesman for Ms Rayner later said the leader and his deputy had spoken between her morning round of media interviews and her speech at the Institute for Government (IfG).
Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves, party chair Anneliese Dodds and shadow defence secretary John Healey are among those remaining in their current posts.
In a statement, Sir Keir said: "I want to thank all those who have left the shadow cabinet today for their great service to me and to our party.
"I look forward to working with the new team to show we are once again a serious party of Government, ready to fix the mess the Tories have got the country into and to inspire voters to believe that Britain's best days are ahead of us."