Labour appoints new shadow equalities minister
Labour MP Kate Green has been appointed as the party’s new Shadow Equalities Minister, as Jeremy Corbyn reshuffles his top team.
Left-winger Mr Corbyn, who was formally elected to succeed Ed Miliband as Labour Party leader on Saturday, has been appointing his new team following an exodus of senior shadow ministers, including Yvette Cooper, Chuka Umunna, Liz Kendall and Tristram Hunt.
The changes will see the Women and Equalities Brief – which covers legislation surrounding LGBT issues – handed to the Member of Parliament for Stretford and Urmston, Kate Green.
The post was previously held by Gloria de Piero, who has opted to remain on the Labour frontbench, but will take a new role as Shadow Minister for Young People and Voter Registration.
Ms Green previously held the shadow equalities brief between 2011 and 2013, and was influential in progressing the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) bill in 2013 – acting to sum up the debate for Labour during the second reading.
She gave an impassioned defence of equality in her speech at the time, saying: “Those who have argued that marriage can exist only between persons of opposite sex have also pointed to the procreation of children as a defining element of marriage.
“That is to see marriage very narrowly. The possibility of marriage has always existed for couples for whom children are not an option. I am glad to say, as a 52-year-old woman, that we have never forbidden women of over childbearing age from entering into marriage.”
“We have heard some important contributions about how the children of parents in same-sex marriages will fare. There is plenty of evidence that what children need above all in order to thrive is to live in families where there is stability and love.”
