Stephen Morgan, MP for Portsmouth South, has been named Shadow Minister of State for Rail following Keir Starmer’s reshuffle of the Shadow Cabinet this week. He replaces Tan Dhesi who is now Shadow Exchequer Secretary in the Shadow Treasure team.
Stephen served on Labour’s frontbench as Shadow Minister for Schools from December 2021 to September 2023, and in other roles. Responding to his appointment, he said: “I am delighted to be appointed Shadow Minister of State for Rail. As a regular rail user myself, I am all too aware of the Government’s continued failures within the sector and the need to put passengers back at the heart of our railways.”
The Portsmouth MP has been an active local campaigner and a strong voice on transport issues.
Reflecting on the challenges ahead, he said: “Record delays, cancellations and overcrowding have become the norm, while passengers are paying more and more for less and less.
“Nowhere has this been experienced more acutely than the North – the scaling back of Northern Powerhouse Rail, coupled with the scrapping of HS2 eastern leg and delays to huge stretches of the project, are a huge betrayal of promises made to passengers.”
Responding to the news, Darren Caplan, chief executive of the Railway Industry Association, said: “I’d like to welcome Stephen Morgan MP as the new Shadow Rail Minister.
“Mr Morgan takes up his new position at a pivotal time, as we await forthcoming news of Great British Railways legislation and restructure, and with the industry ready to deliver much needed increased capacity for the railway and the supply sector in the months and years ahead, following the strong bounceback post-Covid by returning passengers and freight. There is much work for him to do, to promote and campaign on this positive agenda.
“We would also like to say thank you to outgoing Shadow Rail Minister Tan Dhesi. We wish him the very best of luck in his new role as Shadow Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, and look forward to working with him in his new position on rail issues in the future.”
Image credit: Parliament.UK
