Steve Reed, the Labour and Co-operative MP for Croydon North, has been reappointed as the shadow minister for civil society – a role he has held since October last year.
Reed, who has been an MP since 2012, was recently re-elected with a majority of more than 32,000.
Delighted to be reappointed by Jeremy Corbyn as Shadow Minister for Civil Society and Young People
— Steve Reed (@SteveReedMP) June 15, 2017
Prior to becoming an MP he was leader of Lambeth Council, where he advocated a “co-operative council” approach which involved increased involvement from the charity sector.
Reed has made relatively few comments in Parliament on the charity sector since being appointed last year, asking one question about the Foundation for Social Improvement, an umbrella body for small charities, and one about the National Citizen Service.
Speaking to Civil Society News shortly after his appointment in October, he said that he felt the government’s funding to the sector has been “slashed to what is beyond reasonable”, and that there had been attempts to reduce the sector’s ability to speak out.
“I think there has been some attempt to undermine the sector, and that has been done as a deliberate move to cover up that funding has been slashed way beyond what is reasonable,” he said.
“We have seen funding cuts to local government in some councils of 50 to 60 per cent, and that has had a direct impact on third sector organisations that work with local authorities, who are then denied the capacity they need to pick up doing some of the activities that the state sector used to do itself.
“You can’t have it both ways, you can’t have the state withdrawing and expecting the voluntary sector to step in when you are slashing your resources at the same time.”
Yesterday Reed tweeted his commiserations to Rob Wilson, who was minister for civil society prior to the election but went on to lose his seat.
Belated commiserations to @RobWilson_RDG on losing his seat, always got on personally while I was his oppo as Shadow Civil Society Minister
— Steve Reed (@SteveReedMP) June 14, 2017
Related articles
