Rachel Reeves, chancellor
The country’s first female chancellor will have some huge early decisions to make. Taxes on private schools, non-doms and oil and gas companies will have to be enacted, but there is a bigger immediate question. The Tory government’s spending plans run out in April 2025, which means a spending review – with all the difficult trade-offs that involves – will have to take place this year. Does Reeves simply roll on existing spending settlements for another year to give herself more time to make the big calls? Or does she go with a longer-term settlement to foster the stability and growth she has placed at the centre of her project?
Angela Rayner, deputy prime minister and levelling up secretary Labour’s plans for growth rest on huge reforms to the planning system and housebuilding. While this will be tackled by Keir Starmer and Reeves from Downing Street, it will fall to Rayner to turn the ambition into delivery. That will involve early reform plans that will no doubt meet resistance in parliament and society.
Wes Streeting, health and social care secretary Expectations are high for Labour to restore the NHS. But Streeting will face an immediate battle with junior doctors, who are still threatening strikes this year if their pay dispute cannot be resolved. In the longer term, Streeting has set himself the tough aim of hitting waiting-list targets in five years. A manifesto plan for 2m extra scans, operations and outpatient appointments a year is the main route to achieving this, which will require a serious amount of kit. Then there’s the £125m dentistry package, as well as the task of starting to recruit 8,500 mental health staff.
Bridget Phillipson, education secretary Offering breakfast clubs in all primary schools has been a key Labour pledge for some time, and one it believes will have a real impact on people’s lives, so rolling them out will be a priority. Then there’s the recruitment of an extra 6,500 “expert teachers”, paid for by imposing VAT on private school fees. Phillipson has been passionate about improving childcare, so expect her to be spending her political capital on improving provision and solving the sector’s recruitment and retention issues.
David Lammy, foreign secretary There had been rumours that Lammy might not become foreign secretary should Labour form a government – Douglas Alexander’s return to parliament had some making him the favourite – but, now safely in post, Lammy has an overflowing inbox. It will kick off with a delicate reset of EU relations, as the UK hosts a meeting of the European Political Community in less than a fortnight. On Gaza, there is also a decision to be made about Palestinian statehood, something Lammy has said Labour would consider once a ceasefire was secured. Then, there’s the small matter of the US – Lammy has said some incendiary things about Donald Trump.
Yvette Cooper, home secretary A Labour government sees “stop the boats” become “smash the gangs”, with Cooper charged with overseeing a new group tasked with taking on the networks behind the perilous Channel crossings. The Rwanda scheme will be scrapped straight away. Some of the structural changes can start quickly, but seriously reducing the numbers via new returns agreements is a harder diplomatic task. The changing political makeup in France could make the task more difficult: some hard-right figures have challenged the current UK-France cooperation on border controls.