TAMESIDE’S two Labour MPs have returned to familiar positions at the heart of government as part of new Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s reshaped Cabinet.
Ashton-under-Lyne MP Angela Rayner has been reappointed as Housing Secretary, while Stalybridge and Hyde MP Jonathan Reynolds returns to the role of Business Secretary – both posts they previously held under former Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
For Rayner, the move marks a return to the Cabinet after she resigned from her roles as Deputy Prime Minister, Housing Secretary and Deputy Leader of the Labour Party in September 2025.
Her resignation followed an investigation by the Prime Minister’s ethics adviser, which found she had breached the ministerial code after failing to obtain the correct tax advice, leading to an underpayment of around £40,000 in stamp duty on her flat in Hove, East Sussex.
In her resignation letter, Rayner accepted responsibility for what she described as an “honest mistake”, citing complex family circumstances and the pressure of intense media scrutiny as factors behind her decision to step down.
She now returns as Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government – a wide-ranging brief covering housing and planning, homelessness services, local government, English devolution, regional growth, communities and faith, democracy and elections, public appointments and planning decisions.
Meanwhile, Reynolds is back in charge of the government’s business agenda after being appointed Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade.
The Stalybridge and Hyde MP had previously served as Business Secretary before becoming Chief Whip last year, with his return reportedly welcomed by business groups and trade unions who had developed strong relationships with him during his first spell in the role.
The appointment comes as Burnham looks to deliver on his promise to lead a “pro-business” government and pursue his ambition to reindustrialise Britain.
Downing Street has also announced the merger of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology with the Department for Business and Trade, creating Reynolds’ expanded brief.
The appointments were announced as Burnham continued to put together his senior team after formally replacing Sir Keir Starmer as the UK’s seventh prime minister in a decade on Monday (July 20).
In his first speech as Prime Minister, Burnham pledged to move power away from Westminster, give communities greater control over “life’s essentials”, end rough sleeping across the country and introduce a 10-year plan for Britain alongside a new political and economic model.
Other key Cabinet changes include former Defence Secretary John Healey replacing Rachel Reeves as Chancellor, while Ed Miliband remains in government as Foreign Secretary.
Shabana Mahmood continues as Home Secretary, Louise Haigh becomes Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, First Secretary of State and Cabinet Office Minister, while Pat McFadden retains his role as Work and Pensions Secretary. Yvette Cooper has been appointed Health Secretary and Lucy Powell, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, replaces Bridget Phillipson as Education Secretary.
The appointments of Rayner and Reynolds means Tameside continues to be represented around the Cabinet table and, as Greater Manchester MPs, might be influential as Burnham looks set to open a new Number 10 in the North in Manchester – which he said would be the tool to distributing power across the country.