Incoming UK prime minister Keir Starmer will need to appoint a new secretary of state for culture, media and sport (CMS) after shadow culture secretary Thangam Debbonaire lost her seat in the general election.
Debbonaire, who had held the shadow position since September 2023, lost the newly-created seat of Bristol Central to Carla Denyer, co-leader of the Green Party. Denyer received 24,539 votes with a 56.6% share, while Debbonaire received 14,132 votes at a 32.6% share.
Starmer is expected to appoint his first cabinet this weekend (July 6-7), including a CMS secretary, who will be selected from the 412 Labour MPs elected in the landslide result.
Conservative MP Lucy Frazer, who had held the position since February 2023, lost her seat to Charlotte Cane of the Liberal Democrats, in a close race by just 495 votes.
Caroline Norbury, CEO of Creative UK, shared her reaction to the changes on X (formerly Twitter):
Saddened for both @ThangamDebb & @lucyfrazermp. Both very decent people who backed the creative industries. Looking forward to working with the new ministerial team @DCMS to support #OurCreativeFuture
— Caroline Norbury OBE (@CarolineNorbury) July 5, 2024
The secretary of state for culture, media and sport is responsible for overall strategy and policy across the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, including allocating grant-in-aid funding for the British Film Institute.
Thirteen different MPs held the position across the Conservatives’ 14 years in office; an increased frequency from the previous Labour government, which had five different culture secretaries from 1997 to 2010.
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