By Hannah Graham at UK Youth, in response to the #cabinetreshuffle on 8th January 2018.
Following closely the announcements in Theresa May’s cabinet yesterday, we are saddened to hear that Education Secretary, Justine Greening MP has lost her position. Justine has given continued support of the UK Youth Voice Manifesto over the last year, pledging to bring sex and healthy relationships education into the 21st Century ensuring LGBT inclusivity and mental wellbeing and also being a role model in politics and the media for many LGBT young people in our networks.Education is too important to our current and future generations to keep changing direction; stability and consistency are vital in order to provide an education that is accessible for all children and young people. It is vital that the measures announced in December to tackle the UK’s growing social mobility problem aren’t shelved following this announcement. Justine has since said that social mobility matters to her more than her ministerial career and she will continue to do everything she can to create a country that has equality of opportunity for young people. We look forward to working with her on her mission.
At UK Youth, we hoped that Theresa May would take this morning’s opportunity to appoint a Youth Minister and make a real commitment to young people. To value youth voice in the future, we would like to see meaningful participation in dialogue between policy makers and young people. The 18-24 youth vote has earned the right to inform, influence and scrutinise, but we need new and innovative ways to consult young people on local/national Government policy and decision-making.
“An opportunity to strengthen our message”
We will continue to work very closely with continuing Minister for Civil Society, Tracey Crouch MP to ensure the £90million dormant assets fund to build a fairer society are used wisely in order to help young people transition into employment. We welcome the appointment of new Secretary of State for DCMS (Digital, Culture, Media & Sport), Matt Hancock MP and we also welcome working with new DCMS Minister, Margot James MP and Education Secretary Damian Hinds MP on his APPG Social Mobility report on the importance of embedding life skills within education. We will be monitoring the title changes over the next few weeks, to clarify whether these are purely cosmetic, or have wider implications for the roles of the officials and the impact this has on young people and the youth sector.
With lots of new faces around the table at Number 10, this can only be an opportunity to strengthen our message and project a wider reach with the aim of building brighter futures for young people, whatever their background or circumstances.
Other Appointments
Headlines (Cabinet)
- Damian Hinds MP becomes Secretary of State for Education following Justine Greening’s shock departure
- David Lidlington replaces Damian Green as Cabinet Office Minister, but doesn’t receive First Secretary of State title previously held by Green
- Matt Hancock MP becomes Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
- Brandon Lewis replaces Patrick McLoughlin as Conservative Party Chairman following a brief announcement on Twitter for Chris Grayling for the role, which proceeded to be deleted. Backbencher James Cleverly appointed as Brandon Lewis’ deputy
- Jeremy Hunt MP now becomes Secretary of State for Health and Social Care taking on a more expanded role including the new social care green paper
- Karen Bradley MP moves from DCMS Culture Secretary to replace James Brokenshire MP as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
- Sajid Javid former Communities Secretary, in another title change becomes Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government
- David Gauke MP moves from Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to be Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice.
- Esther McVey MP becomes Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Ministerial Appointments
- Harriett Baldwin MP becomes Minister of State at Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for International Development
- Jo Johnson MP leaves the Office for Students and becomes Minister of State at the Department for Transport and Minister for London
- Chris Skidmore MP, former Minister for the Constitution whom we have been working with on democratic engagement now demoted and in new position as Conservative HQ Vice Chairman for Policy. It is unknown at this stage who will replace him.
- Alok Sharma MP becomes Minister of State for Employment at the Department for Work and Pensions and Dominic Raab MP becomes Minister of State for Housing
- Margot James MP becomes Minister of State at Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
- Mark Garnier, International Trade Minister, Philip Dunne, Health Minister, Robert Goodwill, Education Minister and John Hayes, transport minister are also leaving the government
- Sam Gyimah MP becomes Universities Minister at the Department for Education
- Caroline Dinenage MP and Stephen Barclay MP become Ministers of State at the Department of Health & Social Care
- Rory Stewart MP becomes Minister of State at the Ministry of Justice
No Change Here
- Amber Rudd MP remains Secretary of State for UK Home Office
- David Davis MP remains Secretary of State for the Department for Exiting the EU
- Boris Johnson MP remains Secretary of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs
- Greg Clark MP remains Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
- Philip Hammond MP remains Chancellor of the Exchequer
- Michael Gove MP remains Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
- Penny Mordaunt MP remains Secretary of State for International Development
- Chris Grayling MP remains Secretary of State for Transport
- Gavin Williamson MP remains Secretary of State for Defence
- Liam Fox MP remains Secretary of State for International Trade
- David Mundell MP remains Secretary of State for Scotland
- Ben Wallace MP remains Minister of State for Security and Economic Crime
- Greg Hands MP remains Minister of State for Trade Policy