Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, is to be elevated to the House of Lords and appointed as a minister by the new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, as part of a sweeping reshuffle that has seen a clearout of allies of Sir Keir Starmer.
Mr Sarwar, who has led Scottish Labour since 2021 and was among the first to call for Sir Keir to stand down in February, is expected to take up a ministerial post in the revamped Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, headed by Jonathan Reynolds. He hailed Mr Burnham's "bold Labour vision" as the new PM entered No 10.
Downing Street confirmed a raft of other appointments, including Dan Jarvis, who returns to his previous role as security minister after briefly serving as defence secretary, and James Murray, the former health secretary, who becomes Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General. Anna Turley has been made a Home Office minister, Florence Eshalomi a housing minister, and Andy Slaughter Solicitor General, with 17 ministers reappointed to their existing posts.
Mr Burnham, who has promised to lead a "cost-of-living Government", announced an £850 million VAT cut on electricity bills, funded in part by scrapping Sir Keir's digital ID project. The move has raised questions about its funding, as the estimated £600 million-a-year cost of the project falls short of the tax cut, with the remainder expected to come from unidentified Whitehall savings.
Further plans include capping single bus fares across England from January, echoing the Bee Network scheme Mr Burnham introduced as Greater Manchester mayor. He told his Cabinet that the new team "reflects the party, the country, all backgrounds" and described the reappointments as a "major vote of confidence".
