On Friday I was appointed as the new Shadow Minister for Victims and Youth Justice. As a result, I will be moving on from my current role as Shadow Minister for International Development.

Over the past year we have faced a time of unprecedented circumstances, from COVID to conflict to climate. We have seen how the scale of these challenges has exacerbated injustices and humanitarian crises facing the most vulnerable and marginalised across the world. The UK Government’s short-sighted and ill-judged cuts to lifesaving aid will further entrench those challenges and inequalities, as well as reverse any progress and resilience that UK aid has proudly helped to achieve and build.  From ensuring more girls receive a formal education, providing access to safe drinking water and sanitation, vaccinating infants and children from preventable diseases, and tackling food insecurity caused by climate-related disasters and conflict. The cuts also significantly impact your ability to effect change for the better and deliver programming which really does save lives and programmes which shape the future for the better – that is a terrible loss, the cost of shameful cuts will be increasingly felt in the decade ahead.

I feel incredibly privileged to have been able to advocate for those who need our support and cooperation, to have been able to call out injustice, and to fight for the values which should define Global Britain but which are disturbingly threatened. I am proud to have fought the reduction in cross border aid access in northwest and northeast Syria and regime impunity, to have stood against the illegal seizure and demolition of Palestinians land and property and continued de facto annexation, to have been a vocal champion for innocent and vulnerable Yemenis caught in the gravest humanitarian emergency, and to have been leading the charge on support and outcomes that must be delivered for developing nations at COP26. I will continue to speak up about these issues and to be a strong advocate wherever possible.

Thank you for your support and collaboration!