Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s Shadow Minister without Portfolio, commenting ahead of Theresa May’s first Cabinet meeting as Prime Minister said:

“Theresa May entered Downing Street on the back of warm words about reaching out and putting working people first. But after six years at the heart of a Tory Government which has failed to do this the test now is not speeches, photo opportunities or press releases but action.

“The early signs for Theresa May’s administration are not universally good. Her first acts were to abolish the department tasked with tackling climate change; to put someone who wanted to scrap the Department for International Development in charge of it; and to fill the rest of her Cabinet with a variety of right-wingers, failures and disgraced returnees from the backbenches.

“Changing the faces at the top of the Tory Party will do nothing for working people let down by this Government. We need a change of direction to put ordinary people first.”

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