The Labour Party has appointed Barbara Keeley as shadow minister for arts and civil society, three months after Rachael Maskell resigned.
Maskell resigned from the shadow ministerial team in December so that she could vote against laws requiring NHS staff to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
Since then, Labour has been without a shadow minister. Jeff Smith, who is part of Lucy Powell’s team shadowing the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, has been speaking on behalf of the party during the two bits of relevant legislation that made their way through Parliament his year.
Keeley said she was “delighted” with the new job.
“Charities are a valued and vital part of our national life, working to improve communities, offer people opportunities, and bring our nation together,” she added.
She criticised the government over its treatment of charities during the pandemic and said she looks forward to working with the sector.
“Throughout the pandemic, civil society went above and beyond to support the response to Covid but after a decade of Conservative government neglect, the social sector has been pared back and pushed out, while being left to pick up the pieces of the damage this has caused.
“Labour wants to see a thriving third sector that works to support our public services helping people whom statutory bodies find hard to reach. Civil society are key partners in delivering preventative public services and in creating a better, more prosperous Britain where workers, families and the sector are secure. I look forward to working together to achieve these aims.”
Who is Barbara Keeley?
Keeley has been an MP since 2005 and now represents the Worsley and Eccles South constituency.
Since spring 2020 she has sat on the Commons Health and Social Care Select Committee
During Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour Party she three shadow minister roles, including shadow minister for mental health and social care.
Before that she was parliamentary private secretary to the shadow chancellor, Ed Balls. She also spent a year as a shadow communities and local government minister.
When Labour was in government, she was deputy leader of the House of Commons, until the 2010 election.
She held other junior government roles including being a parliamentary private secretary to the minister for women and equality, Harriet Harman.
Prior to becoming an MP she was a local councillor and worked as an adviser on community regeneration projects across Greater Manchester and as an adviser to a national charity for carers.
On her website she says: “I support the work of the Trussell Trust foodbank on Cleggs Lane in Little Hulton and I volunteer at foodbank collections at Tesco Walkden whenever I can.”
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