![UK's New Cabinet: PM Starmer Announces Historic Team](http://media.assettype.com/news-crunch%2F2024-07%2F0bea5186-1231-47f7-bbb0-05ba12c0d38b%2FUK%20Cabinet%20(1).jpg?w=480&auto=format%2Ccompress&fit=max)
New UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has appointed his cabinet, Women are given high priority. He appointed Angela Rayner the Deputy Prime Minister and Rachel Reeves the country's first female Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Rachel Reeves will be the first female lawmaker to hold the second top position in UK Parliament in the last 708 years. Rachel Reeves played a significant role in the electoral campaign.
11 women in Starmer's 25 member cabinet:
Yvette Cooper was appointed Home Secretary, David Lammy was named Foreign Secretary and John Healey was appointed Defence Secretary.
Other appointments include Shabana Mahmood as Justice Secretary, Wes Streeting as Health Secretary, Bridget Phillipson as Education Secretary, and Ed Miliband as Energy Secretary.
13% of Cabinet MPs are black, Asian, or ethnic minority:
The United Kingdom has elected the most diverse Parliament in its history. Newly elected Prime Minister will be overseeing a House that looks more ethnically diverse and includes a higher number of female members, after securing a resounding victory in general elections that ended the 14-year-long Conservative rule.
87 ethnic minority MPs elected, 66 from Labour:
Think tank British Future stated that 13 per cent of the UK Parliament will be represented by Black, Asian, and ethnic minority lawmakers, an increase of 10 per cent in 2019, news agency AFP reported.
According to the think tank, a record number of 87 ethnic minority lawmakers have been elected, an increase of 21. As many as 66 out of the 87 of these lawmakers will represent the Labour Party in Parliament.
According to the 2021 census data, 18 per cent of the total British population belongs to a non-white ethnic group. Minority representation in the UK's parliament has spiked from zero to nearly one in seven lawmakers in the last 44 years.
New PM focus on health care system:
In his first speech as Prime Minister at Downing Street on July 5, Starmer pledged to get the country's "struggling" healthcare system back on track, secure British borders, and attend to the need for schools and affordable homes.
"Our country has voted decisively for change and a return of politics to public service," he said.
However, "changing a country is not like flicking a switch", said Starmer, noting that the world has become "more volatile".
He said the work for change will begin immediately but will time.
The new Prime Minister highlighted his focus on things that "working-class families like mine can build their lives around".
"If I asked you now whether you believed that Britain will be better for your children, I know too many of you will say no -- and so my government will fight until you believe again," he said.