Sir Keir Starmer conducted an extensive reshuffle of his top team yesterday, moving the majority of his shadow cabinet ministers and returning Yvette Cooper to the front bench.
Cooper, the home affairs committee chairwoman and former Brownite rising star, was appointed shadow home secretary. David Lammy, the New Labour-era minister, was made shadow foreign secretary. Lisa Nandy, who had been shadow foreign secretary, was appointed to shadow Michael Gove at the new Department for Levelling Up.
Wes Streeting was promoted to shadow health secretary, replacing Jonathan Ashworth, who was moved to shadow work and pensions.
The Labour leader announced the shake-up following concerns that he was failing to cut through to voters. The reshuffle blindsided Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, who was informed of it
Yvette Cooper is elevated to shadow home secretary while Lisa Nandy will move from shadow foreign secretary to the levelling up brief as Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer reshuffles his cabinet.
Ms Cooper, who held the home affairs brief previously from 2011 to 2015 under former Labour leader Ed Miliband, will depart her current role as chair of the influential Commons home affairs select committee in returning to the shadow cabinet.
She will go head to head with Home Secretary Priti Patel on the issue of migrant crossings.
Ms Nandy will now shadow Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove, while David Lammy has been promoted into her former shadow foreign secretary role from the justice brief.
Image:Lisa Nandy is moving from shadow foreign secretary to shadow levelling up secretary against Michael Gove, Sky News understands
Others who have been boosted to more prominent positions in Sir Keir's top team include Wes Streeting who moves to shadow health secretary and Bridget Phillipson who will transfer from shadow chief secretary to the Treasury to shadow education secretary.
Meanwhile, Jonathan Ashworth, who has had the health brief through the pandemic, moves to shadow work and pensions secretary and said he was "excited" about the new role.
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Former holder of the education brief Kate Green has been removed from the shadow cabinet alongside the previous shadow Wales secretary Nia Griffith and former shadow environment secretary Luke Pollard.
Earlier on Monday, former shadow minister for young people and democracy Cat Smith and former shadow attorney general Lord Falconer said announced that they were also stepping down from Labour's frontbench.
Sir Keir's top team now includes:
• Angela Rayner as deputy leader, shadow first secretary of state, shadow chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster and shadow secretary of state for the future of work
• Rachel Reeves as shadow chancellor
• David Lammy as shadow foreign secretary
• Yvette Cooper as shadow home secretary
• Wes Streeting as shadow health secretary
• Lisa Nandy as shadow levelling up, housing, communities and local government secretary
• Jonathan Reynolds as shadow business secretary
• Ed Miliband as shadow climate change and net zero secretary
• John Healey as shadow defence secretary
• Lucy Powell as shadow digital, culture, media and sport secretary
• Bridget Phillipson as shadow education secretary
• Jim McMahon as shadow environment secretary
• Nick Thomas-Symonds as shadow international trade secretary
• Steve Reed as shadow justice secretary
• Louise Haigh as shadow transport secretary
• Jenny Chapman as shadow cabinet office minister
• Louise Haigh as shadow transport secretary
• Anneliese Dodds as women and equalities secretary and Labour Party chair
• Jonathan Ashworth as shadow work and pensions secretary
• Emily Thornberry as shadow attorney general
• Jo Stevens as shadow Wales secretary
• Ian Murray as shadow Scotland secretary
• Peter Kyle as shadow Northern Ireland secretary
• Thangam Debbonaire as shadow Commons leader
• Dr Rosena Allin-Khan as shadow mental health minister
• Preet Gill as shadow international development minister
• Pat McFadden as chief secretary to the Treasury
• Alan Campbell as shadow chief whip
• Angela Smith as shadow leader of the House of Lords
Image:Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is carrying out a reshuffle for the first time in six months
In a statement, Sir Keir said: "With this reshuffle, we are a smaller, more focused shadow cabinet that mirrors the shape of the government we are shadowing.
"We must hold the Conservative government to account on behalf of the public and demonstrate that we are the right choice to form the next government."
The Labour leader said he is "delighted" to have appointed Ms Nandy to the foreign affairs brief, adding that "there will be nobody better than Lisa to lead this work".
Image:Ed Miliband will take on the climate brief
Meanwhile, Mr Miliband "will lead in the shadow cabinet to develop Labour's extensive plans for net zero in a first term Labour government, and hold the government to account for its failure to take action", Sir Keir said.
The reshuffle comes six months after Sir Keir's last refresh of his shadow cabinet, in the wake of a mixed night for Labour in May's elections across the UK.
Analysis, Jon Craig, chief political correspondent
Yvette Cooper, back in the political front line as shadow home secretary – again - in the headline appointment in the Starmer shuffle, is viewed by many MPs as Labour’s lost leader.
Not any more, though. After giving up the £15,000-a-year chair of the home affairs select committee after five years, she’s almost certainly back as a leading contender for Labour’s crown once again.
And that means that all the leading candidates to succeed Sir Keir Starmer if he stumbles before the next general election or performs dismally when the election comes are all women.
Ms Cooper joins a highly able trio of deputy leader Angela Rayner, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves and the new shadow levelling up secretary Lisa Nandy as the Labour leadership front runners.
In a tweet, Ms Cooper said: "Looking forward to getting to work as Labour shadow home secretary working with Keir Starmer and building on the work done by Nick Thomas-Symonds.
"We want our communities and country to be strong, safe and secure. The Home Office is badly letting people down. Much to do."
Also posting on social media, Mr Lammy said he was "honoured" to be appointed shadow foreign secretary and praised his predecessor Ms Nandy for "holding the Tories' feet to the fire".
"Honoured to be appointed shadow secretary of state for foreign, commonwealth and development affairs. At a time when Britain is recasting itself on the world stage, I look forward to setting out Labour's vision for a values-led foreign policy based on cooperation & internationalism," Mr Lammy said.
Image:David Lammy has been promoted to the foreign affairs brief
Newly-appointed shadow health secretary Mr Streeting tweeted: "Delighted to have been appointed as shadow health and social care secretary.
"This year the NHS saved my life and staff across health and social care are getting us through the worst pandemic in living memory. Labour created the NHS. We'll make it fit for the future."
Earlier this year, Mr Streeting was diagnosed with kidney cancer and had a kidney removed.
Some have suggested the shake-up came about quite abruptly.
Speaking earlier on Monday morning at an event in Westminster amid swirling reshuffle rumours, Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said: "I don't know the details of the reshuffle or the timing of it, I've been here concentrating on my role now.
Image:Wes Streeting will take over as shadow health secretary
"But six months ago I said again we need some consistency in how we're approaching things as an opposition. I want us to see us as a government in waiting, I want us to do that job."
Sky's political correspondent Kate McCann reported that Ms Rayner did get a call from Sir Keir on Monday morning to say she would keep her role, but was not given any detail or consulted about the reshuffle itself.
Posting on social media, Mr Lammy said he was "honoured" to be appointed shadow foreign secretary and praised his predecessor Ms Nandy for "holding the Tories' feet to the fire".
"Honoured to be appointed shadow secretary of state for foreign, commonwealth & development affairs. At a time when Britain is recasting itself on the world stage, I look forward to setting out Labour's vision for a values-led foreign policy based on cooperation & internationalism," Mr Lammy said.
Image:Cat Smith was the first person to depart the shadow cabinet on Monday
While announcing her departure from Sir Keir's shadow cabinet, Ms Smith tweeted out a copy of a letter she had sent to the Labour leader, warning Sir Keir of the "damage" being done by Jeremy Corbyn remaining suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party.
All adults will be offered a COVID-19 booster vaccine as the government backed a far reaching expansion of the jabs programme to deal with the potential impact of the Omicron variant.
On Monday afternoon, the UK's vaccine advisory body - the Joint Committee on Vaccine and Immunisation (JCVI) - recommended:
• Booster jabs for everybody over the age of 18
• Shortening the gap between a second jab and a booster from six months to three months
• Giving a second jab to children aged between 12 and 15 - again after no less than three months
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• Severely immunosuppressed people given access to another booster - meaning for some, a fourth dose this winter
• Boosters consisting of either a Pfizer vaccine or a half dose of the Moderna jab
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Delivering a statement in the Commons shortly afterwards, Health Secretary Sajid Javid confirmed that the government will be taking on board all of the recommendations "in full".
The move, which will see millions more people in the UK become eligible for a third booster dose, has come in the wake of growing international concern about the new Omicron COVID-19 variant.
Analysis: Thomas Moore, science correspondent
The race is on to top up the immunity of the population as fast as possible.
That means boosters for all adults and second doses for secondary school-age children.
It seems counterintuitive at first to be giving yet more doses of the vaccine when Omicron is so heavily mutated that it would almost certainly reduce its effectiveness.
Remember, this vaccine was designed for the original virus from Wuhan.
But senior health officials believe raising antibody levels would broaden the immune response so that there is protection against the new variant.
They really want that to happen before Omicron gets a foothold and starts spreading widely. Boosting immunity is more effective if it’s done in advance, they say. And that’s why adults will be offered a booster in the coming weeks.
Mr Javid told MPs: "In this race between the vaccines and the virus, the new variant may have given the virus extra legs."
Deputy chief medical officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said "scientists around the world" agree that the Omicron variant is "of increased concern", but stressed that there remains a "high degree of current uncertainty" about it.
Speaking at a televised data briefing, Prof Van-Tam said: "I want to be clear that this is not all doom and gloom at this stage and I do not want people to panic at this stage.
"If vaccine effectiveness is reduced as seems pretty likely to some extent, the biggest effects are likely to be in preventing infections and hopefully there will be smaller effects on preventing severe disease.
"But that is something that is there for scientists to work out in the next few weeks."
He added that the booster campaign "has never been more vital than at this point in time".
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2:11
Booster shots bring festive spirit
"To me - and as you know, I love football - we started with 11 players in the team with the Wuhan vaccine and you could say that we kind of picked up a couple of injuries when Alpha came along and then Delta came along, those variants that are different from the Wuhan original strain," Prof Van-Tam said.
"And we've had to use our subs off the bench to keep us in the game. But we are well in the game, and you can see that with the current epidemiology in relation to Delta, that the vaccines are holding up very well and largely keeping us out of trouble.
"Now Omicron is like now picking up a couple of yellow cards to key players on top. We may be okay, but we are kind of starting to feel at risk that we might go down to 10 players.
"And if that happens, or if it is a risk that that is going to happen, then we need everyone on the pitch to up their game in the meantime. And that is really upping their game in terms of boosters and in terms of antibody responses.
Image:Anyone aged over 18 can now receive a third coronavirus jab
"We are not going to wait for the red card to happen, we are going to act decisively now and we are asking everyone to up their game.
"We are asking everyone to play their part in the urgency now of the booster programme - coming forward the moment you are called by the NHS."
Speaking at the data briefing, Dr June Raine, chief executive of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), said a "thorough review" and monitoring had found it was safe for those aged 12 to 15 to have a second vaccine dose as there are "no new safety issues".
"Our message to people aged 12-15 is that it is safe to have a second dose of the Pfizer vaccine and if you're called to receive your second dose, please go and take that offer. It will ensure that you're further protected from COVID-19," Dr Raine said.
She added that it was "very likely" that an assessment of whether to approve the Pfizer jab for children as young as five would be concluded before Christmas.
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7:54
WHO says 'vaccines are key'
Meanwhile, Professor Wei Shen Lim, chair of the JCVI, said: "Having a booster dose of the vaccine will help to increase our level of protection against the Omicron variant."
"This is an important way for us to reduce the impact of this variant on our lives, especially in the coming months," he added.
The move has come in the wake of growing international concern about the new Omicron COVID-19 variant.
In a statement released after the meeting, the G7 health ministers indicated that they will continue to work closely together in the coming weeks to share information and monitor Omicron and agreed to meet again in December.
JCVI deputy chairman Professor Anthony Harnden had previously said extending the age range for boosters and reducing the gap between second and third doses was "a sensible strategy".
The expansion of the vaccination programme is just one part of a host of new measures aimed at preventing the spread of the B.1.1.529.
Not much is known about the new strain, first detected by researchers in southern Africa, but there are fears it could be more contagious and more resistant to vaccines.
This measure will be brought back on Tuesday, while PCR tests will be reintroduced for travellers returning to the UK.
Close contacts of anyone who tests positive for the new strain have also been ordered to isolate for 10 days.
"If it emerges that this variant is no more dangerous than the Delta variant, then we won't keep measures in place for a day longer than necessary," the health secretary told MPs.
But also speaking in the Commons on Monday, shadow health minister Dr Rosena Allin-Khan called for pre-departure testing to also be implemented.
An Insulate Britain protester who has been on hunger strike in prison for 13 days is being given hospital treatment, the campaign group said.
Emma Smart, 44, from Weymouth in Dorset, was moved to the hospital wing at HMP Bronzefield in Ashford, Surrey, on Friday.
She was jailed for four months on November 17 for breaching an injunction and immediately vowed to stop eating until the Government moves to insulate homes.
Ms Smart’s husband, Andy Smith, told the PA news agency that she is “feeling a bit weak but she’s still in good spirits”.
In a statement released by Insulate Britain, Smart said: “The window of my cell in the hospital wing is blocked up and there is little natural light, in my previous cell I could see the birds and trees that line the prison fence.
“I have less time to go outside in the prison yard for exercise now.
“All of this is testing my resolve to continue, but I feel that not eating is the only thing I can do from prison to draw attention to those who will have to make the choice between heating and eating this winter.”
Insulate Britain members, including Ms Smart’s husband, are to stage a 24-hour fast outside 10 Downing Street on Tuesday morning in solidarity with her, the group said.
Mr Smith, 45, told PA: “She is feeling a bit weak but she’s still in good spirits.
“I think a hunger strike is about 80% mental (strength) so as long as she’s doing OK mentally I think she’ll probably continue on her hunger strike until the Government make a meaningful statement as to whether they’re going to insulate the homes of Britain or not.”
He said his wife had been relocated to the hospital wing so that prison staff could more easily monitor her health.
“I last spoke to her yesterday but she’s recently had her telephone rights revoked so it’s increasingly difficult to speak to her,” he said, adding that it was not clear why the prison had taken the step.
Mr Smith said: “It is quite difficult, but also aware that other things are difficult.
“We’ve made difficult decisions throughout the last three years. We didn’t step lightly into making decisions to be arrested, we didn’t step lightly into making decisions not to have any children…
“There’s clearly a lot of inaction coming from our Government, they’re not taking the steps that are needed to combat the climate crisis that we’re in, and they would rather just chuck people in prison than actually face up and deal with those problems.”
Ms Smart is one of nine members of the group jailed for breaching an injunction designed to prevent the road blockades which have sparked anger among motorists and others affected by the protests.
They appeared at the High Court on November 17 after they admitted breaching an injunction by taking part in a blockade at junction 25 of the M25 during the morning rush hour on October 8.
They received sentences of between three and six months and ordered to pay £5000 in costs each.
A further nine Insulate Britain protesters are to appear at the High Court on December 14 to face a charge of contempt of court.
Insulate Britain began a wave of protests in September and supporters have blocked the M25, roads in London including around Parliament, roads in Birmingham and Manchester and around the Port of Dover in Kent.
Videos showing furious motorists dragging the climate activists away from the blockades have gone viral on a number of occasions.
The group is demanding that the Government insulate Britain’s “leaky homes” and end deaths it says are caused by winter fuel shortages.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is carrying out a reshuffle of his shadow cabinet, with the first departure from his top team confirmed.
A Labour source has told Sky News: "It's all happening - big names being moved."
Two sources have told Sky News that Kate Green has been dismissed as shadow education secretary, while Jo Stevens has been moved from the digital, culture, media and sport brief to become shadow Wales secretary.
The reshuffle comes six months after Sir Keir's last refresh of his shadow cabinet, in the wake of a mixed night for Labour in May's elections across the UK.
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After a morning of reports and speculation about a reshuffle, Cat Smith has revealed she is departing as shadow minister for young people and democracy.
She tweeted out a copy of a letter she has sent to Sir Keir, saying: "Although I am grateful for your offer to remain in my current brief, I have only been on the backbenches for four months in my six and a half years as an MP and I will instead be returning to the backbenches."
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Ms Smith warned Sir Keir of the "damage" being done by Jeremy Corbyn remaining suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party.
Speaking earlier at an event in Westminster, Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said: "I don't know the details of the reshuffle or the timing of it, I've been here concentrating on my role now.
"But six months ago I said again we need some consistency in how we're approaching things as an opposition. I want us to see us as a government in waiting, I want us to do that job."
Sky's political correspondent Kate McCann reports that Ms Rayner did get a call from Sir Keir on Monday morning to say she would keep her role, but was not given any detail or consulted about the reshuffle itself.
A 14-year-old boy has been charged with murdering a 12-year-old girl who was stabbed to death in Liverpool.
Ava White was out with friends in the city centre when she was attacked on Thursday and died shortly afterwards.
She was stabbed shortly after the city's Christmas lights switch-on at about at 20:40 GMT.
The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was remanded in secure accommodation after appearing at Liverpool Magistrates' Court.
He appeared at the court, sitting as a youth court, charged with murder and possession of a bladed article.
District Judge Wendy Lloyd said he would appear again at Liverpool Crown Court on Wednesday.
Three other boys, aged between 13 and 15, were also arrested and have been conditionally bailed as the investigation continues.
Merseyside Police said officers found Ava collapsed on the ground with "catastrophic injuries" in Church Alley.
She had been involved in a "verbal argument" which "escalated to an assault on her involving a knife", the force said.
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Ava was taken to Alder Hey Children's Hospital after paramedics arrived but died a short time later.
Floral tributes have been left near the scene where she was attacked.
Ava, who attended Notre Dame Catholic College in Everton, was described as "an incredibly popular girl with a fantastic group of friends" by her head teacher Peter Duffy.
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