Andrew Adonis appointed Secretary of State for Transport; Sadiq Khan is new minister for low carbon transport

Tue 09 June 2009 View all news

Lord Andrew Adonis has been appointed the new Secretary of State for Transport, succeeding Geoff Hoon, while Sadiq Khan has joined the transport ministerial team as Minister of State for Transport with responsibility for low carbon transport issues. The Government reshuffle also expanded the role of BERR to include innovation and skills and a new departmental title: the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). BIS has ten ministers reporting to Lord Mandelson who will now be known as First Secretary of State.

Sadiq Khan was formerly a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and a minister in the Government Whip's Office where he had special responsibility for managing Ministry of Justice legislation. Previously he was the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Rt Honourable Jack Straw MP, who was then Leader of the House of Commons. He was also a member of the Public Accounts Select Committee between 2005 and 2007.

Before entering Parliament, Sadiq Khan was a Human Rights solicitor. He co-founded a Human Rights firm and was chair of Liberty (NCCL) for many years. He was a visiting lecturer at University of North London and London Metropolitan University, and is a former governor of South Thames FE College as well as a Governor of two primary schools including the country's first purpose built Islamic ethos primary school.

In his first speech as a transport minister, Sadiq Khan told a conference organised by the Local Government Information Unit and the Campaign for Better Transport that environmental issues will be high on his list of priorities.

He said: "We must acknowledge the environmental impact of transport – which contributes 40% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions.

"The government’s target – as a result of our groundbreaking Climate Change Act – is an overall reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% by 2050.  That will require a significant contribution from transport, and particularly from road transport."

For more details of the ministerial changes, full biographies and link to Sadiq Khan's speech, please follow the associated links.

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