Lisa Nandy takes charge of Labour-led DCMS

Lisa Nandy, MP for Wigan, has been appointed as Secretary of Culture, Media and Sport under the first senior cabinet of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

The appointment of a new State Secretary for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) was required following the loss of shadow secretary Thangam Debbonaire’s Bristol West constituency to the Green Party.

Nandy succeeds former Conservative MP Lucy Frazer as DCMS state secretary, who was among the 250 Tory ministers to lose their constituencies.

MP for Wigan since 2010, Nandy is recognized as one of the Labour Party’s longest-serving ministers, who served under the premiership of PM Gordon Brown as an undersecretary of the Cabinet Office.

During Labour’s 14 years in opposition, Nandy took on several shadow minister roles, including Foreign Affairs, Energy Policy and Climate Change, and most recently Levelling-up minister shadowing Michael Gove.

In 2016, Nandy rebelled against Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour Party, supporting the failed challenge of Owen Smith, which saw her demoted from shadow duties.

Nandy ran in the 2020 leadership election to succeed Jeremy Corbyn but finished in third place behind Keir Starmer and Rebecca Long Bailey.

Labour’s manifesto made a slight reference to DCMS, in which Keir Starmer wants the department to return to promoting British arts and culture on a global stage.

As Secretary of DCMS, Nandy will take over the government’s review of the BBC licensing fee and current broadcasting operations. The Conservative Government had pledged to keep the licence fee until the current charter ends in December 2027, with a panel review expected in the autumn

Under the Conservative government’s stewardship, DCMS saw a chaotic reign of 14 different state secretaries leading the department since 2010.

Sanctioned in 2019, DCMS leads the government’s oversight of the Gambling Review led by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) – a regulatory process that has been overseen by six different junior ministers.

The Gambling Review is yet to be concluded, as White Paper consultations need to be settled on affordability checks, modernising land-based gambling laws, advertising, and establishing a new framework for a mandatory levy on problem gambling research, education, and treatment (RET).

Shadowing the Gambling Review for Labour, Stephanie Peacock (MP for Barnsley South) stated that the party “carried consensus on reforms with the Conservative Party.”