By Sheila Mckenzie-
Rebecca Long-Bailey has been appointed as Labour’s new shadow education secretary following a Labour Party reshuffle by new leader Keir Starmer.
Long-Bailey, the MP for Salford and Eccles, succeeds Angela Rayner, who was elected deputy leader and appointed chair of the party over the weekend.
Born in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Long-Bailey studied Politics and Sociology at Manchester University and was shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, deputising for Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell from 2016 to 2017. Long-Bailey was a candidate in the 2020 Labour Party leadership election, finishing second to Sir Keir Starmer.
The Shadow Education Secretary is an office in the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet responsible for Opposition policy on Education and for holding the Secretary of State for Education, junior Education ministers, and the Department for Education to account. It is an important and prestigious post, and Bailey will have her hands full.
She will be bombarded with lots of requests from all corners, especially in relation to funding, and other issues surrounding the highly demanding and high level education system in the Uk. The improvised grading system for this years’s G.C.S.E and A levels assessment may also need her expertise, if as expected by some in education, examining boards are inundated with requests for appeals.
Long-Bailey joined parliament in 2015, was previously the shadow business secretary, and came second in the Labour leadership contest. Over the moon, given her prestigious appointment today, Long Bailey tweeted : “Delighted to be appointed as shadow education secretary by Keir Starmer and thanks to the brilliant Anglea Rayner for her work in this role.
“In this time of crisis I will do my utmost to ensure that our teaching staff, students and their families receive the support they deserve.”
She added: “Never has there been a more important time to fight for a properly funded, accountable, public education service, free at the point of use, from cradle to grave so that all our aspirations can be realised.
“Social mobility is meaningless if we don’t all rise together.”