Burnham: I’ll have a 50/50 gender split Shadow Cabinet and a woman as deputy

Andy Burnham will ensure that he has a woman as his deputy in Parliament even if a man wins the deputy leadership contest – and has committed to an even gender split in the Shadow Cabinet under his leadership.

Some have raised concerns that Labour could end up with an all-male leadership team. Currently two men, Burnham and Tom Watson, are the frontrunners in the leader and deputy leader races. Watson has raised the possibility of splitting the deputy leader role to ensure that there is at least one woman in one of the party’s top jobs, while Burnham has today said he will have a woman as his Shadow First Secretary of State – which would in effect be a parliamentary deputy to him.

At the moment, George Osborne holds the role of First  Secretary of State, taking over from William Hague in the last Parliament. There is a precedent in the Labour Party for the role not being held by the deputy leader – Brown appointed Peter Mandelson to the position in 2009 while Harriet Harman served as deputy.

Burnham said:

“For too long, Labour’s top team hasn’t fully reflected our country. At times we’ve looked and sounded like a Westminster think-tank talking in a code that the public don’t understand.

“I am going to change that. Labour will look, feel and sound different under my leadership. I will have a front bench full of diversity, different backgrounds and many accents.

“My top team will be 50% women and I will make sure that women hold the most senior jobs, too. I will get to work straight away by appointing a woman as shadow first secretary of state to create a balanced Labour top team taking on the Tories at PMQs.”

Rachel Reeves is the favourite to be Shadow Chancellor should Burnham win the leadership contest, and with Osborne the incumbent First Secretary of State, she would make the likely choice for the shadow role.