Bridget Phillipson

Phillipson was selected from an all-women shortlist as the Labour candidate for Houghton and Sunderland South in 2009 and elected as an MP at the 2010 general election.[15][16] Phillipson was the first MP to be declared to be elected to the 2010 and 2015 parliaments. After entering parliament, she was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to Jim Murphy, who was then the shadow defence secretary.[17] Between October 2013 and September 2015, she served as Opposition Whip in the House of Commons.[18]

She was elected to the Home Affairs Committee in July 2010, and remained a member until November 2013. She was a member of the Public Bill Committee for the Defence Reform Act 2014, and of the Procedure Committee between July 2010 and October 2011.[19] She has also been a member of the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission since October 2010, and both the Committee on Standards and the Committee on Privileges since October 2017. She was a member of the Public Accounts Committee and the European Statutory Instruments Committee.[20] From 2010 to 2015, she was secretary to the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Domestic and Sexual Violence, which published the report "The Changing Landscape of Domestic and Sexual Violence Services" in February 2015.[21][22]

Despite being an opposition MP since entering Parliament in 2010, she has campaigned successfully on a number of local issues, including forcing a government U-turn on the rebuilding of Hetton School, after plans to do so were cancelled by the Conservative-led government in 2010.[23] The school was eventually rebuilt and reopened in 2016.[24] She also led a campaign to improve standards and affordability of bus transport in Tyne and Wear, calling for the development of a quality contract scheme to be run by Nexus, the passenger transport executive for the North East Combined Authority.[25] The government-appointed review board eventually refused permission for Nexus to advance the scheme.[26]

Following Starmer's leadership election victory in April 2020, Phillipson was appointed to the Shadow Cabinet for the first time, as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury.[27] She served in that role under successive Shadow Chancellors Anneliese Dodds and Rachel Reeves. On 29 November 2021 she was moved to the role of Shadow Secretary of State for Education, responsible for Labour's education policy in England.[28]

As shadow secretary of state for education, Phillipson has set out Labour's plans for reform of the childcare and wider education systems, starting with plans for funded breakfast clubs for every primary school child in every school in England.[29] She has called for reform of Ofsted, the inspectorate of school standards in England, to move away from simplistic one-word summary overall judgements,[30][9][14] for imposing VAT on private schools to fund thousands more teachers in England's schools, a full curriculum and assessment review, including a focus on weaving speaking and listening skills through the curriculum, new incentives to retain teachers in the classroom, two weeks' worth of compulsory work experience for all young people, and improved access to careers guidance and mental health in schools.[31]

She has also spoken and written extensively about the particular importance of childcare for children, parents and families, and the need for a system that stretches from the end of parental leave to the end of primary school.[14][32] She has confirmed that the next Labour government will not abolish tuition fees altogether.[33], and has called for far-reaching changes to the skills system in England, including the creation of a new body to be called 'Skills England', devolution of skills and adult education budgets, and greater flexibility with the existing Apprenticeship Levy.[34]

In 2023, she was selected by Keir Starmer to lead Labour's mission on breaking down the barriers to opportunity.[35][36]

The full mission document[37] sets out Labour's ambition to reform the childcare and education systems, and "shatter the class ceiling" so that children’s future earnings are no longer limited by those of their parents. In particular, Labour commits to:

• boost child development with half a million more children hitting the early learning goals by 2030.
• see a sustained rise in young people’s school outcomes over the next decade, building young people’s life skills.
• expand high quality education, employment and training routes so more people than ever are on pathways with good prospects by 2035.