The majority of Andy Burnham’s Cabinet members are based in the north of England, with four based in Greater Manchester
Jonathan Reynolds looks on as Andy Burnham speaks(Image: Getty Images)
A minister has defended the make-up of Andy Burnham’s new Cabinet, denying that there was a risk of a ‘north-south divide’.
The Prime Minister unveiled his new Cabinet on Monday (July 20) after entering 10 Downing Street and promising a 10-year plan for Britain. Mr Burnham, the Makerfield MP, made sweeping changes to the Cabinet, starting with the appointment of John Healey as the new Chancellor to succeed Rachel Reeves.
The majority of Mr Burnham’s ministers are based in the north of England, including four Greater Manchester MPs. This morning (Tuesday) Business Secretary and one of the Greater Manchester MPs, Jonathan Reynolds, defended the make-up of the Cabinet and said he does not accept ‘a bias’ for any part of the country.
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Asked if there was a risk of a north-south divide, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today: “No, there isn’t. I don’t want to get touchy about it, but I can’t remember previous occasions where people have objected to too many people from a different part of the country being in there.”
Mr Reynolds, MP for Stalybridge and Hyde in Tameside, said: “I think there’s the same number of cabinet ministers from Greater Manchester there was at the start of this Labour government in 2024. The Prime Minister has changed, but the the rest of the Cabinet is broadly the same in terms of those names.
“So I don’t accept a bias for any part of the country. I do accept very much that this is a Prime Minister determined to make the economy work, the country work, for every single part of the UK.”
MP for Manchester Central Lucy Powell has been named as deputy Prime Minister, replacing David Lammy, and she’s also been named as the education secretary. Angela Rayner, MP for Ashton-under-Lyne and former deputy prime minister, has taken back her old job as Housing Secretary.
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds(Image: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
She was reportedly keen on a return to the front line of Government after having been cleared by HMRC earlier this year following a row over her tax affairs. Lisa Nandy, MP for Wigan, remains as Culture Secretary.
First Cabinet meeting today
Mr Burnham will chair the first meeting of his new Cabinet today. It will come after he announced a cut on VAT for energy bills from October 1, his first major policy since entering Downing Street.
One of the big shock appointments in Mr Burnham’s new Cabinet was John Healey as Chancellor. And a former British Army head has said appointing Mr Healey, who recently resigned as Defence Secretary from Sir Keir Starmer’s government, is “a masterstroke” and makes him “poacher turned gamekeeper”.
John Healey
Lord Dannatt told Times Radio: “John Healey, as we all know, resigned not that long ago, having said that the previous prime minister was unable to produce the funding that defence needed – and the previous chancellor was unwilling – so now he is the one behind the desk in Number 11, and has really got to answer his own question.
“Now, it won’t be an easy question to answer, but there’s no one that knows better than John Healey just what defence needs, and I think he’ll give it his best shot possible to try and find the money that he knows the nation needs to keep this country safe, and that we play our collective part in the collective security of Europe.
“So in a sense it’s very much a poacher turned gamekeeper, and physician heal thyself.”
Andy Burnham’s new Cabinet
– Chancellor: John Healey
– Foreign Secretary: Ed Miliband
– Home Secretary: Shabana Mahmood
– First Secretary of State, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office: Louise Haigh
– Health Secretary: Yvette Cooper
– Work and Pensions Secretary: Pat McFadden
– Housing Secretary: Angela Rayner
– Business Secretary: Jonathan Reynolds
– Education Secretary: Lucy Powell
– Chief Whip: Anneliese Midgley
– Equalities Minister: Bridget Phillipson
– Culture Secretary: Lisa Nandy
– Defence Secretary: Wes Streeting
– Justice Secretary: Alex Norris
– Environment Secretary: Dame Angela Eagle
– Energy Secretary: Miatta Fahnbulleh
– Scottish Secretary: Douglas Alexander
– Welsh Secretary: Stephen Kinnock
– Northern Ireland Secretary: Sir Chris Bryant
– Transport Secretary: Heidi Alexander
– Commons Leader: Sir Alan Campbell
– Lords Leader: Baroness Smith of Basildon
– Attorney General: Ellie Reeves (attends Cabinet)
– Chief Secretary to the Treasury: Emma Reynolds (attends Cabinet)
– AI minister: Kanishka Narayan (attends Cabinet)
– Intergovernmental and European relations minister: Hamish Falconer (attends Cabinet)
– Housing minister: Matthew Pennycook (attends Cabinet)
