Labour’s Flint returns to energy leadership role

Former shadow energy minister Caroline Flint will return to energy politics after taking up the role of departmental committee chair for the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP).

Flint stepped down from shadow cabinet following Jeremy Corbyn’s controversial landslide leadership victory in September, but will now join noted anti-Corbyn party members in forming a new PLP committee.

The PLP has waned in significance in recent years but is able to play an effective role in challenging frontbench policy positions and promoting alternative policy agendas. With the Labour party divided between Corbyn’s hard-left supporters and more moderate Labour members, the PLP could now play a greater role in “shadowing the shadow cabinet”, one source told Utility Week.

Of the 17 commitee chairs, 11 supported Liz Kendall’s leadership campaign, according to current affairs weekly New Statesman, including former shadow chancellor Chris Leslie, who has strongly criticised Corbyn’s economic policies.

In energy policy terms, Flint’s pro-nuclear stance is at odds with Corbyn’s anti-nuclear rhetoric. The party leader is also likely to face criticism on this point from new Energy and Climate Change Select Committee member Jamie Reed, who represents the constituency that hosts the Sellafield nuclear waste site.

In her frontbench resignation, Flint said that returning to the backbenches would allow her “to spend more time helping Labour reach out” to voters who turned away from the party.

“I hope this work will be helpful to Jeremy, the shadow cabinet and the Labour party as we rebuild over the next five years,” Flint added.