Labour is urged to prioritise mental health after doctor leaves shadow cabinet

The NHS doctor and MP Rosena Allin-Khan has resigned as Labour’s shadow minister for mental health after her portfolio was downgraded from a shadow cabinet post.

In an open letter to the party’s leader, Keir Starmer, published on X (formerly Twitter) Allin-Khan, an emergency department doctor and MP for Tooting in south London, said she stepped down as a shadow minister after Starmer told her he “does not see a space” for the mental health brief in his cabinet.1

After Allin-Khan’s departure Labour appointed Abena Oppong-Asare as the new shadow minister for women’s health and mental health, but she will not attend shadow cabinet meetings in this new post.

In …