The city MP Stephen Morgan has secured key role in the shadow transport team following Keir Starmer’s reshuffle of the Shadow Cabinet this week.
The appointment comes after the Portsmouth South MP has served on Labour’s frontbench as Shadow Minister for Schools from December 2021-September 2023 and other roles previously.
Responding to the appointment, Stephen Morgan MP 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 Conservatives’ broken transport system is failing millions. Labour will reform our transport networks, so they work for the people and communities who rely on them.
I’m looking forward to working with the Shadow Transport team to bring our railways into public ownership and put passengers first”.
The Portsmouth MP has been an active local campaigner and a strong national voice on transport issues holding the government to account over their 13 years of mishandling the railway, ticket office closure fiasco and improving railway stations and infrastructure.
In his new role, Mr Morgan will hold the government to account for rising fairs, neglected infrastructure projects and industrial action, making the case for fit-for-purpose national rail services for the economy of the future, as well as prepare Labour’s plan for transport in Government.
Reflecting on the challenges ahead, Stephen MP added:
“Record delays, cancellations and overcrowding have become the norm, while passengers are paying more and more for less and less. Over a decade of dismal Conservative failure has left the country with second-rate infrastructure, and broken rail services failing passengers.
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.
Railways must be run for passengers, not profit. I will do all I can to deliver Labour’s vision for local communities, ensuring rail services are fit for purpose, greener, faster, cheaper and reliable for those who use them.”
