Keir Starmer Hands Fleur Anderson Ministerial Role
Putney MP to serve at the Northern Ireland Office
Fleur Anderson appointed as a junior Minister in the new government
July 10, 2024
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has appointed Fleur Anderson MP the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Northern Ireland Office.
This represents a continuation of the role she was given last September when Labour was in opposition. She will work alongside the new Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Hilary Benn, who held the same position in the Shadow Cabinet.
Ms Anderson, who was last week re-elected as MP for Putney on a doubled majority of over 10,000 votes, said, “I am deeply honoured to have been appointed to the role of Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Northern Ireland Office by Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Working alongside Secretary of State Hilary Benn MP in our Shadow Ministerial roles has been immensely inspiring, and we are now determined to get to work as quickly as possible to establish a new relationship between the UK Government and Northern Ireland Executive. Our new Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s visit to Belfast on the third day of his Premiership illustrates how seriously we as a Labour Government take our relationship with Stormont.”
The Prime Minister flew to Belfast on 8 July to meet with the First and Deputy First Ministers of Northern Ireland at Stormont, with discussions said by party leaders to be “constructive”, “productive” and “positive”.
Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald described talks with the new Prime Minister, compared to the previous government, as the difference between “daylight and dark”.
This March Ms Anderson led a delegation of 17 MPs on a two-day trip to Northern Ireland following the resumption of power sharing in the local assembly. The group MPs met at Stormont with politicians, before touring Northern Ireland to meet with teachers, dockyard workers and community leaders.
She added, “It has been humbling to be so warmly welcomed by the communities of Northern Ireland on my previous trips as Shadow Minister, and I am delighted to return in my new role. Myself and Secretary of State Hilary Benn MP will continue to work together with all communities to foster economic growth, prosperity and improved public services. Labour is the Party of the Belfast Good Friday Agreement, and I am honoured to have the opportunity to serve a Northern Ireland of opportunity, reconciliation and equality.”
Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We've always done that and won't be changing, in fact we'd like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you'd like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |