Is a ‘South Yorkshire mafia’ now running the cabinet?

Good afternoon readers, we hope you had a lovely Tramlines weekend! Victoria’s favourite performance from the festival’s fringe was, for obvious reasons, Alysbestos at Gut Level on Sunday, who performed wearing official Tribune merchandise.

Dan particularly enjoyed “open decks” party Sevenby7 at Sidney and Matilda on Sunday (hearing Charly by The Prodigy on a big sound system for the first time in several decades gladdened his 48-year-old heart). And Mollie spent her entire weekend drinking lageritas at Delicious Clam, and was thrilled to see one of her favourite bands, Holiday Ghosts, are back touring after a short hiatus. 

So, onto this week’s Monday briefing. As the new cabinet get their feet under their desks, there is a distinctly South Yorkshire flavour to Britain's new political top team. No less than three local MPs are members of Andy Burnham’s cabinet, including Sheffield Heeley MP Louise Haigh, who Sky News suggested might now be the most powerful woman in the country. What will having several seats at the centre of power mean for our region? That’s today’s big story.

In case you missed it

On Saturday, Dan looked into a new proposal to build a road tunnel under the Peak District. A similar plan was shelved six years ago on cost grounds, but a former civil servant believes it can be done much more cheaply using Norwegian tunneling methods. The piece provoked a torrent of debate in the comments section (89 comments and counting so far) — some subscribers felt Dan needed his head looked at for even entertaining such a ridiculous idea, while others were fully on board with this tunnel vision. Read the story and join the debate here.

And on Wednesday, we published our second monthly Good News Edition, coming good on one of the five pledges we made to you during our big campaign. It proved just as popular as our first cheery installment, with Angela Ryan saying it was a welcome boost on a Wednesday morning. “The world needs more of this kind of news to make us feel optimistic!”

Attentive readers may have noticed they only received three emails from us last week, instead of the usual four — apologies for that! We decided one of our planned articles needed a little more time to get it just right (you can expect it in your inbox very soon) and we're also a little short-staffed because Victoria spent all week in court for a big piece we have planned for early next month.

The big picture: Sheffield’s biggest party 🎸

Sheffield’s biggest party took place at Hillsborough Park over the weekend, bringing dozens of top bands and thousands of music fans to the city. Organisers will be relieved the sun shone and there was very little rain, avoiding a repeat of 2023, when damage led to the park being closed for months. Pictured are The Courteeners, who headlined on Saturday night.

The big story: Is a ‘South Yorkshire mafia’ now running the cabinet?

Top line: When new Prime Minister Andy Burnham appointed his cabinet last week, three of the four most senior roles went to MPs from here in South Yorkshire. What will having three local MPs at the heart of the new government do for our region?

Great offices: All cabinet roles are important, but some are more important than others. The offices of Prime Minister, Chancellor, Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary are known as the “great offices of state”. Of these, two have gone to South Yorkshire MPs — Chancellor to John Healey and Foreign Secretary to Ed Miliband — while Louise Haigh was made First Secretary of State, the first woman to hold that role since Barbara Castle.

• Sheffield Heeley MP Louise Haigh was made First Secretary of State and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, effectively making her Deputy Prime Minister (she will probably stand in for Burnham at Prime Minister’s Questions when he is abroad on government business). As a key figure in Burnham’s return to Westminster, The Guardian reported that Haigh is set to run a “beefed up cabinet office” that will be the government’s "political engine room", driving the PM's agenda. It was also revealed last week that Haigh conducted interviews for other cabinet positions, underlining her role as one of Andy Burnham’s closest advisors. 
• Rawmarsh and Conisborough MP John Healey was Burnham's surprise choice for Chancellor of the Exchequer. Healey was Starmer’s defence secretary, until he resigned from cabinet after the defence investment plan in June failed to deliver the uplift in spending he had hoped for. Businesses in South Yorkshire's growing defence sector will be hoping that they can benefit from Healey holding the government’s purse strings, although Bloomberg reports that Starmer’s allies argue this makes him “the fiscally loosest possible choice” as he may be overly focused on this industry. 
• Doncaster North MP Ed Miliband is Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary. He has been seen as highly effective at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, receiving a 16% budget increase in the last spending review in 2025. However, his commitment to green energy may have been a problem if the government wants to approve new drilling in the north sea, as is widely rumoured. His move also means he won't get the final decision on the controversial Whitestone solar farm in South Yorkshire. If approved, it would become one of the biggest solar farms in the country.

UK’s ‘most powerful woman’: Sky News has suggested that Haigh's appointment may make her the most powerful woman in Britain, less than two years after she left Starmer’s cabinet due to a minor scandal. In November 2024, Haigh handed in her resignation as Transport secretary, after it came to light that she had pleaded guilty to making a false report to police over a decade ago. While working for insurance company Aviva in 2013, she reported that her work mobile phone was stolen in a mugging, but later found it in a drawer at home. A magistrates court issued her a conditional discharge — the least severe sanction possible — half a year before she was elected as an MP in 2015. 

While Burnham’s critics have been keen to label Haigh a “convicted fraudster,” questioning his wisdom in appointing her to such a senior role, others have celebrated the move, which makes Haigh the first woman to hold this position since Barbara Castle in the late 1960s. Ryan Shorthouse, CEO of thinktank Bright Blue, wrote: “Those in public life should be showing that those who have committed relatively minor crimes eventually have a route to a successful life without stigma.” 

Lower ranks: The South Yorkshire-ification of government doesn’t stop with cabinet. There is plenty of local representation in the government’s lower ranks too, including security minister Dan Jarvis (Barnsley North), sport, tourism, civil society and youth minister Steph Peacock (Barnsley South), and youth and international justice minister Jake Richards (Rother Valley).

Other major figures in Westminster are Sheffield South East MP Clive Betts, who is the chair of the housing and communities select committee, and Sarah Champion, who is the chair of the international development select committee.

Northern supremacy: It isn’t just South Yorkshire that has seen its representation around the cabinet table increase. As you might expect, given Andy Burnham’s political history, Greater Manchester boasts five ministers (more than the whole of London), while two represent Merseyside. Analysis by journalist Josh Housden shows that this means the "geographic centre" of Burnham's cabinet has moved 24km northwest, landing approximately near Derby.

• Our sister title The Mill recently argued that bringing No.10 North to Manchester is unalloyed good news for the city. Whether it will have benefits across the north remains to be seen.
• However, others have argued that the new cabinet’s make up is, looked at another way, just more of the same. Of the 28 members of the current cabinet, 17 of them were educated at either Oxford or Cambridge.

On the payroll: Some would argue that having local MPs in cabinet can be a bit of a double-edged sword. Being on the “government payroll” means that, if you ever vote against the party’s agenda, you will lose your job. As a result, MPs with ministerial jobs are far less likely to rebel, and therefore tend to tow the party line rather than act independently. The choice is influence or independence — you can’t have both.

Our take: No one would dispute that, for many years now, power in this country has been too concentrated in London and the south east. (That’s certainly the argument leading economist Sir Paul Collier made in his interview with us last year.) However symbolic it is, having more South Yorkshire voices around the cabinet table, as well as our mayor attending meetings at No.10 North in Manchester, makes for a welcome change. 

However, the proof of the pudding will be in the eating: whether anything actually changes. As our weekend read about poor connectivity between Sheffield and Manchester showed, South Yorkshire has found itself ignored when it comes to investment in public projects for decades. Whether having three cabinet members will help is unclear, but it certainly can’t hurt. We live in hope.

Your Tribune briefing 🗞️

✈️ Yesterday, the Sunday Times reported that Doncaster Sheffield airport is itching to become a regional hub for the transportation of military cargo, including weapons, when it reopens for business in a few years time. The airport, based on the former RAF Finningley airfield, has a long military history and is also one of the longest and widest single runways in the UK. “We’ve had and continue to have conversations with the Ministry of Defence,” Christian Foster, the programme director overseeing the project, told the paper, although civilian passenger and freight flights would still be the main priority. We’re working on a piece about Sheffield’s military moves later this week — if you know anything about this topic, get in touch by emailing editor@sheffieldtribune.co.uk.

🚨 An almighty row has blown up between South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard and former police and crime commissioner Alan Billings. In 2024, it was revealed that a £65 million “black hole” had been found in South Yorkshire Police's budget, due to an accounting error relating to loans taken out to pay for equipment. A report which came out last week laid the blame for the error at the door of the former PCC, but Dr Billings called for it to be withdrawn, arguing that the problem had been caused by "a difference of professional judgement" between finance officers, and not “misjudgements, weaknesses and failures," as the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy-authored report suggests. However, a terse response from SYMCA said Dr Billings’ statement was “factually wrong”, adding that the report made clear the errors arose from a “misinterpretation of statutory accounting guidance, compounded by weaknesses in financial governance and scrutiny arrangements at the OPCC over a number of years”.

🪳 Sheffield council has announced that market traders who suffered financial losses when the Moor Market was closed due to a cockroach infestation will receive compensation. Shortly after the market reopened, Councillor Mark Rusling said traders would receive one month of free rent, one month of free service charges and extended payment terms. Now, Rusling says that traders will also receive an additional month of rent and service charge relief, as well as a one-off payment of £500. “This package is intended to provide meaningful and immediate support that can be implemented quickly, fairly and consistently across the market, while helping traders focus on rebuilding their businesses and attracting customers back,” he said.

The weekly Whitworth ✍️

Cartoonist James Whitworth with his take on another hugely successful Tramlines Festival, with clear skies, very little rain and not a splash of mud.

Home of the week 🏡

This three bedroom semi-detached home in Meersbrook is on the market for £300,000, with an exposed brick fireplace, warm sanded floorboards and a sun-drenched garden. 

Things to do 📅

Photography 📸 On now at the Graves Gallery is Lives in Focus: Photography in Sheffield’s Collection. This new exhibition, drawn from the city collection, celebrates photography’s unique power to reveal connections spanning generations, geographies and shared histories. The show includes work by Bill Stephenson, who photographed the people of Hyde Park Flats as their homes were about to be demolished. The exhibition is free and runs until 23 December.

Film 🍿 Those who missed out on Life Support, a harrowing documentary about the international doctors working in Gaza, at SheffieldDocFest can watch the film at Showroom Cinema on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week. It comes highly recommended by director Ken Loach and explores what it means to deal with devastating casualties on a daily basis. Tickets here.

Beer 🍻 The Abbeydale Road Beer Festival returns for its fifth year on Thursday, heralding four days of “tap takeovers and beery heaven” across 15 bars. Stretching across one epic mile, the concept is simple: drink your way down Abbeydale Road, trying at least one beer from each venue. Alongside the pints, you’ll find street food, DJs, and exclusive festival giveaways including the highly sought after festival t-shirts, which have this year been designed by Mila K.

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