Umunna promoted as class of 2010 surge into shadow cabinet

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7th October 2011

Six MPs elected last year have been promoted into the shadow cabinet by Labour leader Ed Miliband.

Chuka Umunna is to be the new shadow business secretary, Rachel Reeves shadow chief secretary to the Treasury and Michael Dugher has been made shadow minister without portfolio, coordinating communications.

Liz Kendall, Margaret Curran and Gloria De Piero are also expected to be handed roles in the shadow cabinet.

Stephen Twigg will be shadow health secretary.

Hilary Benn, Ann McKechin, John Healey, John Denham and Shaun Woodward are all leaving the Labour top team.

Denham will become PPS to Ed Miliband and has announced he will leave the Commons at the next election.

Healey said he wanted to spend more time with his family, while McKechin said she had been asked to stay on but declined.

Ed Miliband said:

"I am determined that my shadow cabinet not only holds this government to account but speaks to the public and the country.

"Families across Britain are worried about how they will make ends meet, anxious about what the future holds for their children and tired of the way irresponsibility is tolerated across our society.

"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.

"They will show how we aspire to be a government not for more of the same but to deliver a new bargain for the British people."

PoliticsHome reports that the prime minister is to appoint Guardian journalist Julian Glover as a special adviser and speechwriter.

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