Opinion polls show Britain’s opposition Labour Party is currently on course to take power from the governing Conservatives in an election on Thursday.
Below are details on Labour leader Keir Starmer and his so-called ‘Shadow Cabinet’, the team who would be in line to become senior ministers in a Labour government:
KEIR STARMER, LABOUR LEADER
Starmer, 61, took charge of Labour in 2020 following its worst electoral defeat in 84 years in 2019 under left-wing veteran Jeremy Corbyn. He has sought to develop Labour as a party of competence and pragmatism rather than one driven by an overriding ideology.
A former human rights lawyer who rose to become Britain’s top prosecutor, Starmer was elected to parliament in 2015 and served in Corbyn’s team as the spokesperson for Brexit.
He was named after the founder of the Labour Party, Keir Hardie.
ANGELA RAYNER, DEPUTY LEADER
Rayner, 44, was elected as deputy leader by party members in 2020. Often outspoken in her attacks on the governing Conservative Party, she is seen as an important link to the party’s grassroots thanks to her former career as a care worker and trade unionist prior to being elected as a lawmaker in 2015.
Rayner could be set for a role as deputy prime minister in a Labour government and also currently holds the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities policy brief.
RACHEL REEVES, FINANCE POLICY CHIEF
Reeves, 45, previously worked as an economist at the Bank of England and is set to become finance minister if Labour win the election.
She has said Labour will stick to strict fiscal rules about not borrowing to fund day-to-day spending, but has opened the door to increased government investment, funded by borrowing, to shape strategically important markets, echoing the “modern supply side economics” policies advocated by U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
Reeves has dubbed her own approach ‘securonomics’.
DAVID LAMMY, FOREIGN AFFAIRS POLICY CHIEF
Lammy, 51, represents an inner-London constituency and has spent much of his political career campaigning for social and racial justice. In 2017, he published a critical review of the treatment of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic individuals in the British justice system.
He has identified three principles that would underpin Labour’s foreign policy: reconnecting Britain with the world, putting security and prosperity above ideology and making foreign policy work for the wider public rather than corporate and commercial interests.
He describes his approach as one of “progressive realism”.
ED MILIBAND, ENERGY SECURITY AND NET ZERO POLICY CHIEF
Miliband, 54, led Labour into the 2015 election, which the party lost by an unexpectedly large margin that triggered his resignation. He has since rebuilt his political career around environmental and climate-related issues.
Miliband would play a central role in delivering Labour’s plan to make Britain a “clean energy superpower” through the creation of a publicly owned energy company with powers to invest in new green projects alongside the private sector.
YVETTE COOPER, HOME AFFAIRS POLICY CHIEF
Cooper, 55, was elected in 1997 as part of a landslide Labour election victory under Tony Blair and went on to serve in senior ministerial roles. Since Labour lost power in 2010 she has held both foreign and interior policy roles for the party, and in 2015 ran unsuccessfully to become party leader.
She has promised Labour would run a government of law and order, starting with more policing power to tackle local crime and anti-social behaviour. She has also pledged a new homeland security framework to give state-based threats the same priority as terror-related threats.
JONATHAN REYNOLDS, BUSINESS POLICY CHIEF
Reynolds, 43, was elected to parliament in 2010 and has been deployed in several different policy roles by Labour, most notably as its liaison with the financial sector for four years until 2020, before taking over the business and trade brief.
He has promised closer partnership between Labour and business to deliver an industrial strategy centred on green energy investment and building national resilience to external shocks.
