Gordon Brown has made much of his desire to address the needs of the English regions, with nine new regional Ministers and proposed new English regional select committees. But is this an intent matched in his choice of government positions, and are each of the regions and nations of Britain getting their fair share of Ministerial jobs?

An analysis of the 94 Government positions filled by MPs* suggests that a certain amount of care has been taken to reflect the regional and national make-up of the 356 strong PLP. However, the further up the government hierarchy we go, the greater the disparities grow.

All eleven regions and nations of Great Britain return Labour MPs.  Six of these - Wales, Scotland, East Midlands, East of England, North East, North West and Yorkshire and Humber - enjoy a share of government positions in proportion to their share of the PLP.  The North West, with 17.1% of PLP membership and 17% of government positions, is the largest element, while the East of England (3.6% of Labour MPs and 4.2% of government positions) is the smallest.

The West Midlands, with 10.9% of Labour MPs and 9.6% of government positions loses out marginally, while the South East (5.3% of the PLP - 3.2% of the Government) does the worst of all. Mirroring the South East is the South West, whose 3.6% of Labour MPs gets them 6.4% of government positions. Finally there is London, who make up 12.3% of the PLP but get 16% of the jobs.

It is worth stripping out the whips’ positions from this analysis, however. Each region/nation has its own whip, which can make a big difference to the regions like the South East, with only two other government positions. And, as the lowest (paid) rung of the Ministerial ladder, it is relatively easy to inflate the scorecard of otherwise under-represented regions/nations through whips’ appointments.

With these posts excluded only one region and one nation (Scotland and the East Midlands at around 12% and 6% respectively) remain proportionately represented in government. The East of England, the North East and Wales all become marginal losers. The West Midlands’ share of red boxes falls to 9% and the South East’s under-representation grows even wider. Meanwhile, the South West’s over-representation (3.6% of members, 6.4% of posts) holds steady, Yorkshire and the Humber’s 12.3% stake gets them over 14% of turns at the Dispatch Box and London’s identical share bags it 17% of Ministerial jobs. Finally, the North West’s 17.1% share gets that region 19.5% of the Ministerial Toyota Prius’s.

By the time we get to the top tier all semblance of regional/national balance is out. Here three regions/nations (the North West with 28.5%, of places and Scotland and Yorkshire and the Humber with 19% such places each) account for fully two-thirds of the 21 MPs who sit in the Cabinet. The South East gets its share, as does (roughly) the East Midlands and the North East. The two regions whose overall PLP share is below the 4.8% threshold needed to stake a claim to one place (the South West and East of England, both on 3.6%) accordingly fail to make the cut, while Wales becomes firmly under-represented and the West Midlands’s short changing continues with just one post each. London is, however, by far the biggest loser – it’s 12.3% stake yields just one place – Harriet Harman – at the top table.

Ironically therefore, the two regions/nations who get the roughest deal are the South East (overall government positions) and London (Cabinet places). Londoners may take comfort from the fact that, with over one in five Minister of States and Parliamentary Under Secretaries coming from London, representation will improve in later reshuffles. But they should also be aware that the capital city has had its fair share of Cabinet places for just one of more than ten years of a Labour government – and that was the first year in office when Blair was saddled with his Shadow Cabinet.

Scotland, who almost conspicuously hold share overall, are hugely over-represented in the Cabinet (19%) but are under-dealt at the junior Ministerial-only level (7%). The Scottish influence may well therefore decline in time as junior Ministers come through the ranks. Yorkshire and Humber, with as many Cabinet places as Scotland on the same PLP share as London look well placed to keep their representation up with 12.5% of junior Ministerial posts, including the likes of Caroline Flint, Yvette Cooper and Meg Munn.

But it is the North West that emerges as the big regional winner in Gordon Brown’s government, nudging towards a third of all Cabinet places and their fair share (16%) of junior Ministerial appointments. With 61 MPs, they outgun the South East, South West and North East put together. Yet with more Derek Twigg’s, Beverley Hughes’s and the Eagle Sisters, and fewer Kitty Ussher’s one has to wonder if the figures fail to tell the true succession story for this region. Time will tell, as will the new Prime Minister, whether a Cabinet of all the regions and nations will match his Government of all the talents.

 (Adapted from an article on Normal Mouth)

* This excludes unpaid Parliamentary Private Secretaries along with other “payroll” positions such as committee chairs