Westminster reshuffle is rumoured while Mark Drakeford lays out his agenda

Good morning. The Telegraph reported last night that Keir Starmer intends to reshuffle his shadow cabinet before the next election, with the biggest move briefed being Shabana Mahmood – currently national campaign coordinator, and much praised in the role – replacing Anneliese Dodds as party chair. A Labour source told the Telegraph that this was because Dodds was “not political enough” for the role.

The report frames this move – the only other substantive change reportedly on the cards is a change in role for Shadow Culture Secretary Lucy Powell, overseeing AI and tech policy as the new Shadow Science Secretary – as being likely to take place after party conference in October. Questions are also raised about a possible role change for Angela Rayner, currently Shadow Secretary for the Future of Work and Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. However, unlike other shadow cabinet members Rayner has her own mandate as elected deputy leader, and the last time the leadership attempted to reshuffle her it did not go smoothly.

Rumours of an imminent reshuffle have been stalking the corridors since January, and have thus far invariably transpired to be so much hot air and gossip. According to Politico, “an ally of one of those named” called the Telegraph story “laughable”, and Labour did not comment to the Telegraph. With this new report’s comparatively long time frame, things might yet change, particularly given that the roles involved in the big swap primarily concern party management and campaigning and we are facing down a bevvy of by-elections between now and conference. Then again, they might not.

From one legislature to another: Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford has announced his legislative agenda for the next Senedd term, saying that the bills he intends to put forward will make a positive change for the people of Wales. Legislation to be introduced in the next term includes a bus bill to reform and improve bus services, a disused tips safety bill to manage disused tips, reforming current laws around coal tip safety, a Welsh language education bill to increase the number of people who can speak Welsh and to protect Welsh-speaking communities, and a local government finance bill to reform the council tax and non-domestic rates systems.

The headline pledge, however, is a “once in a lifetime bill to reform the Senedd”, which will bump up numbers of Senedd members. Indicating that he has constitutional reform in his sights, Drakeford has also made movements on reform of the electoral system. Commenting on his agenda, the First Minister said: “This forthcoming year will have an unrelenting focus on reform to make positive changes in the lives of the people of Wales.This is an ambitious and radical programme of reform, which will modernise parts of our tax and electoral system, ensure we put the needs of looked-after children ahead of profits, and create a Senedd which reflects the Wales we live in today.”

Meanwhile, shadow schools minister Stephen Morgan has hit out at a new report from the National Audit Office, which finds that 700,000 children are studying in schools that need serious rebuilding or refurbishment, saying: “Labour has repeatedly raised the risk to life that school buildings pose to children and staff but have been met with a wall of silence from the Conservative government. Children won’t receive a first-class education in second rate buildings.”

And finally, the i reports that Starmer is trying to sweeten up the unions on his green energy plan with a pact to ensure the policy creates new jobs. There have been tensions with the GMB and with Unite over the party’s plans to halt new oil and gas licences of late, and with the national policy forum looming at the end of the next month, where the unions will be the biggest players, you can see why the leadership would want everyone to be as well-disposed to one another as they can be.