Labour appoints Kate Green as shadow education secretary

The MP for Stretford and Urmston was appointed by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer following the sacking of Rebecca Long-Bailey last week after she shared an article containing an “anti-semitic conspiracy theory” on Twitter.

Green was the boss at CPAG from 2004-09, before being elected to Parliament in 2010. She was also director of the National Council for One Parent Families between 2000-04 and chair of the London Child Poverty Commission from 2006-09.

She was awarded an Order of the British Empire for "services to welfare work" as part of the 2005 New Year Honours.

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While in Parliament, Green has campaigned on educational inequalities issues and was appointed in April to lead on Labour’s child poverty strategy work.

She had previously served as shadow minister for women and equalities under previous Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn before resigning.

Commenting on the appointment, Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, said: “We warmly welcome the appointment of Kate Green as shadow education secretary. 

"At a time of such difficulty for the early years sector, an effective opposition is more important than ever, and so we look forward to working closely with Ms Green, and representing the views and concerns of our members and the wider sector, going forward.”

The National Day Nurseries Association tweeted that it “looked forward” to working with Green to “address the challenges of the nursery sector”.

We congratulate @KateGreenSU on her appointment as Shadow Education Secretary today and look forward to working with her to address the challenges the nursery sector faceshttps://t.co/TVlBbuLwL5

— NDNA (@NDNAtalk) June 29, 2020

Former Labour deputy leader Tom Watson praised Green’s appointment, writing on Twitter that she would “build a child centred policy platform”.

This is a very clever appointment. @KateGreenSU has great depth and much respect from her colleagues. She’ll build a child centred policy platform and think big on how schools can move forward post-covid. https://t.co/JVHMas97J6

— Tom Watson (@tom_watson) June 27, 2020

Green was chair of the home affairs select committee and had previously sat on the work and pensions and justice committees. She chaired a number of all-party parliamentary groups including those on migration, Gypsies, Roma and Travellers, and women in the penal system.

Before working in the voluntary sector, Green spent 15 years at Barclays Bank after graduating from Edinburgh University with a law degree.

Long-Bailey, who was named as shadow education secretary in April, was asked to step down after she shared an article in which actress Maxine Peake claimed the police officers accused of killing George Floyd in America used tactics “learnt in Israel”.