Stephen Morgan appointed as minister with responsibility for early years
by Jess Gibson
Labour MP Stephen Morgan has been confirmed as the minister with responsibility for the early years.
Mr Morgan 鈥 who formerly held the role of shadow minister for education and schools in addition to shadow minister for defence 鈥 has been the Labour MP for Portsmouth South since 2017, when he made history as the first-ever Labour MP for the constituency.
In the role of shadow minister for education and schools, Mr Morgan frequently challenged the Conservative government on a number of issues relating to early years education and childcare. These included questioning the overall cost for families, steps taken to reduce provider closures and maintain or increase the number of early education places, and how the government was ensuring high-quality provision.
He confirmed his new role on social media platform X with the following statement: 鈥淓very child deserves to get the best start in life. Honoured to be joining @bphillipsonMP鈥檚 Ministerial team @educationgovuk to deliver better childcare and early education. I can鈥檛 wait to get started.鈥
Commenting, Neil Leitch, CEO of the Early Years Alliance, said: "We welcome Stephen Morgan as minister with responsibility for the early years.鈥
"There's no question that Mr Morgan begins this role at a particularly challenging time for the sector, with providers continuing to face severe staffing shortages and significant underfunding in the run-up to the next phase of the entitlement expansion.鈥
鈥淎s such, we look forward to working closely with him to ensure that the views, needs and concerns of providers are represented at the highest level, and that our sector finally gets the respect, recognition and support it both needs and deserves.鈥濃