Andy Burnham's cabinet meets for the first time

[00:00:00][applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] Can I just say I expect this every meeting. [laughter] Thank you so much uh colleagues uh and congratulations uh first uh those of you who've taken uh new positions thank you for stepping up uh to serve and uh for those uh reappointed uh to your roles please take that as a >> [clears throat] >> uh major vote of confidence uh in you and uh we feel like a good team uh that's certainly uh how I feel today uh a good team that reflects uh the party, the country, um all backgrounds, you know, I think we're going to work uh work really well uh together. So, thank you uh everybody. We've got two items on the agenda today. um the mission, the purpose uh of this uh government and uh standards and the two are linked because we will only deliver for people uh and make hope feel real for people if we are pulling ourselves together in the same uh direction and we have a really positive working relationship uh a sense of one team >> and I've been speaking to the cabinet secretary uh as well and we uh both uh agree uh that we also want to set the tone at the top in relation [clears throat] to our relationship with our colleagues uh in the civil service in our uh in your departments. uh getting that working relationship right and also making feel that feel uh like it's uh a one team approach, everybody pulling in the same direction uh respecting each other because then we'll deliver more uh for the people we're here to here to serve and here to help.

[00:02:04]Life's hard out there, isn't it? At the moment you heard me uh talk about the doorstep in Makerfield. Um we need uh to every day think well what can we do just to take that little bit of pressure off people's shoulders just to give them that little extra sense that help is coming so they can have that bit of bit of hope uh that things are are getting better. And that's the mission that we've got to set ourselves uh together.

[00:02:34]uh and later in the discussion I think it would be great to hear from from all of you uh in terms of what your department can do around cost of living because there are things that can be done big and uh small um and it would be just really good to have that uh discussion. We need to be a cost of living government and getting that cost of living uh down and looking at all possible ways of of doing that. I talked yesterday outside uh in Downing Street about uh bringing back hope and that's got to be us, isn't it? We've got to do that. We can do that. Um and we've made a start uh today. We made the announcement about uh removing VAT from household electricity bills. Uh it's not everything. uh but it shows [clears throat] our determination uh to do something uh about people's living standards. um and it kind of points the way for further measures that that we hope to take to take that uh pressure off people but also it comes with rep prioritization and you'll have seen what I've said about uh digital uh ID in these times in which we're living we have to take a really hard look at what our priorities are and if we're to deliver on uh the cost of living and reducing uh the pressure then we've got to be prepared to rep prioritize size.

[00:04:02]Uh we've got to show fiscal uh discipline. We've got to show that our commitment to the fiscal rules is real and we're prepared to make uh difficult uh decisions in relation to that. I know you all understand that. But it's just crucial, isn't it? It will require us to be disciplined uh together um and to make those choices together. But I know I've got a team who will back me uh in doing that. And I also have a chancellor who will be looking over my shoulder all of the time in relation uh to that. But uh I will at this point John uh congratulate you on your new uh position but if you want to thank you VAT on domestic fuel will help 29 million households from uh it doesn't solve the cost of lead but it does indicate that we're offering offering a bit better help. We're offering a bit of hope. But we're only doing that we're only doing that because of the good prioritization, the tough decisions that actually Rachel and the previous cabinet have taken to establish financial discipline to enable growth and build on that. And it's going to be a task for all of us to recognize that we need to look hard at our own budgets at the rep prioritization that does allow us to do more to relieve the cost of making life just a bit more affordable for people in [clears throat] the future and to maintain the fiscal discipline. I mean fiscal control is the first duty of any chancellor. It is mine and it is the fiscal credibility that gives us economic stability, growth and national security for the security of our society. And so together we've got some big challenges. But to end the way you started, this is a powerful team that you've appointed. We are a team.

[00:06:16]We're a Labor government and we will show that to the people together in period.

[00:06:23]boldly labor but prudently labor as well at the same time. That's the the thing we've got to uh pull off. Uh but you put it very well indeed on and we will seek to do more um over uh the coming days but always we will show how we are going to pay for it what we are we prioritizing uh and that will be a theme that we uh we will always uh come back to. So I think at this point I will um ask our colleagues.

[00:06:56]>> So slightly less wobbly for the first bit at least. But back to wobbly vision at the end. Um Beth, it was interesting that for the bulk of that the prime obviously knew exactly how it was going to be framed. Flanked by two women there. We've not really talked about the the male female split in the cabinet. It is about 50/50 but there has been a little bit of criticism that that very few of those big roles have gone to women.

[00:07:15]>> Yeah. Look, I think there's a couple of things to say here. Firstly, uh there is disquite in the party that yet again uh Labour have elected or not even elected um just ellighted upon uh a male leader.

[00:07:29]You know, the conservatives have had three female prime ministers and currently have a female uh leader. And I think for a lot of the Labour women, it's like why why why are we unable somehow to never put a woman forward? I then think that that's overlaid with um changes at the top which has seen uh the big offices of state are the prime minister, the foreign secretary, the chancellor and the home secretary. And under K star you had three women in those big offices of state. You had Rachel Reeves as the first ever female chancellor, Shabbanamood as the home section of course of Cooper as foreign secretary and and Andy Bernham has rewired that. So you now have Shabbanamood and you have Andy Burnham, John Healey and Ed Milliband and you know yes it is a 50/50 split but uh there was some criticism. I did pick up some criticism uh yesterday uh from some women in the Labour party uh saying that they were disappointed by that. Now supporters of Andy Bernham would say well look you've also got Louise Hey in there who is now in a very powerful role. You've got Lucy Powell as the deputy uh leader of the Labour party and of course Anelise Midley who I was talking about is now the chief whip and a key Bernham ally. But yeah, I think it is a bit uh it's a bit uncomfortable. Of course it is. I mean is it a move away perhaps though from identity politics from as you say people in roles that are able to say well I am the first female chancellor. I am X. I am Y. Andy Bernham perhaps saying I'm not appointed for those reasons.

[00:08:58]>> I don't really see it as identity politics. I see it as uh the more diversity you have around the cabinet table be that people from different backgrounds uh of education, of class, of parts of the country, male, female, uh different ethnic uh backgrounds, different religions, you just have a better mix of decision-m because you have a better representation of the country uh that you're trying to represent and reflect. And I think that that I I don't think it's kind of any more pointed than that actually. I think it's sort of that that was some of the reason that the women some of the women in the party are unhappy is that they felt that in the Karma government uh it was at times a bit of a boy club and that has been widely discussed by some of the women around that table by the way not least Louise Hagen and Lucy Powell who've talked about unpleasant briefings that they had against them and that was the kind of culture that Andy Burnham has talked a lot about uh wanting uh to get rid of and and and wanting um to change. So I think there was just a sort of expectation that there would be you know around the top table in the decision making roles. I know Larry >> or change but Larry the cat still there.

[00:10:11]>> He's still the star attraction isn't he?

[00:10:13]>> Yeah he's a very elderly cat now >> I think he's knocking on like 18 years old. I mean for cat tongues he's really outlasted them all hasn't he? Quite literally. Well, uh, as we as we take that slight segue away from [laughter] diversity in the cabinet to Larry the Cat, um, let's, uh, talk more about the new cabinet appointments as they were being announced late into the night yesterday. So, let's just remind you who is being appointed and who has kept their jobs. Our deputy political editor, Sam Coats, has been taking a look.