AS the new parliamentary session opened, Labour announced a reshuffle of its shadow cabinet.
A total of 13 new appointments have been made as the party prepares for the next General Election, where it looks set to form a government.
Ian Murray
Ian Murray (Edinburgh South, below) remains shadow secretary of state for Scotland, having been in the post since 2020, and between 2015 and 2016.
Murray has repeatedly ruled out a second independence referendum, and denied there was disunity between Scottish Labour and UK Labour, as policy differences on the two-child cap and self-ID emerged north and south of the Border this summer.
He also said that the Scotland office in Westminster was a "shell of its former self" and that it was "no longer Scotland's voice in the UK".
Lisa Nandy
One of the most notable changes is Lisa Nandy (Wigan), previously shadow secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities, who was appointed shadow cabinet minister for international development.
Nandy (below) said during an interview on the Andrew Neil Show in 2020 that the way to beat calls for Scottish independence was to learn from how the Spanish government dealt with similar calls in Catalonia.
The Spanish government declared the 2017 referendum in Catalonia unconstitutional, and does not recognise the independence of Catalonia from the rest of Spain.
Reports emerged at the time of riot police storming polling stations to prevent people from voting for independence.
Nandy said that her comments had been wilfully distorted by the SNP and later condemned violence used by the Spanish police in a blog post.
Nandy said: “Rather than turning inwards and arguing about resources, we should look outwards to other countries where they’ve had to deal with divisive nationalism.
“We should seek to discover the lessons from those brief moments in history in places like Catalonia and Quebec, that have managed to beat divisive nationalism.”
Rachel Reeves
Rachel Reeves (Leeds West, below) remains shadow chancellor of the exchequer.
Reeves ruled out the possibility of a second independence referendum in Scotland and supported Keir Starmer's pledge that a future Labour government would not strike a deal with the SNP "under any circumstances".
Reeves claimed high earners in Scotland pay more tax than their counterparts in the rest of the UK because the SNP had mishandled the economy.
She also said she could not commit to scrapping the two-child cap, contrary to Scottish Labour policy, as the party's policies must be "fully costed and fully funded".
Liz Kendall
The reshuffle also included Liz Kendall (Leicester West), appointed shadow secretary of state for work and pensions, whilst Hilary Benn (Leeds Central) became shadow secretary of state for Northern Ireland.
When the 2014 referendum result was announced, Liz Kendall took to Twitter: “Scotland Votes NO; the Union has been saved.”
Peter Kyle
Peter Kyle (Hove), appointed Shadow secretary of state for science, innovation and technology, said “I really fear the breakup of our Union. It benefits us all.”
Kyle, when the launch of the Alba Party was announced in March 2021, commented that the independence movement was about “ego-driven squabble”.
He said: “I’m sure if they actually won independence they’d try and break Scotland in two so Sturgeon and Salmond could both have their own countries.
“It’s all about them, not you, not the economy, just their ego-driven squabble.”
In April, Kyle referred to First Minister Humza Yousaf as “Mohammad Yousuf” during an interview with Sky News.
Angela Rayner
Angela Rayner (Ashton-under-Lyne) was appointed shadow deputy prime minister & shadow secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities.
Rayner (below) said Labour would not commit to full devolution of employment law should they form the next government because “they won’t need it”, contradicting comments made by Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar.
Rayner visited Scotland on August 17 to set out Labour’s plans to enhance workers’ rights.
The following day, the Financial Times reported that plans to U-turn on workers’ rights had already been discussed at Labour’s national policy forum the previous month.
