Shadow cabinet: Labour's heavy hitters in region put among top rank

TWO of Yorkshire's big-hitting Labour MPs have been ranked among the top Shadow Cabinet performers.

New analysis by the Labour Uncut website puts Shadow Health Secretary John Healey in second place in a performance table of Labour's top team – one place ahead of Ed Balls, who recently became Shadow Chancellor.

Both men come behind Douglas Alexander, who was Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary before taking the foreign affairs brief in the reshuffle sparked by the resignation of Alan Johnson.

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The website put together the table after scoring each member of Ed Miliband's top team on how many questions they had asked, speeches given and comments provided for the media.

Mr Healey, MP for Wentworth, is credited with giving a "strong all round performance, shining a spotlight on the Government's health service reforms". He was on centre stage in the House of Commons again yesterday as the NHS reforms were debated.

Mr Balls, meanwhile, is said to have "landed the biggest hits at the despatch box", largely in his previous role as Shadow Home Secretary where he twice forced Ministers into the House of Commons to explain themselves by asking urgent questions.

Fellow Yorkshire MPs Local Government spokesman Caroline Flint and Yvette Cooper, who succeeded husband Mr Balls in the home affairs brief, also make it into the top 10.

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Mr Balls, MP for Morley and Outwood, is the big winner in a new state of the party survey by another website, Labour List. He was the most popular Shadow Cabinet Minister among readers, viewed positively by 91 per cent. Ms Cooper scored 84 per cent.

The Tories have seized on Mr Balls' closeness to Gordon Brown to criticise his economic pedigree, but MPs also know he is able to land big blows on coalition Ministers.

After a difficult December, Mr Miliband also saw an improvement in ratings for his leadership with 58 per cent of readers saying he was doing a good or excellent job.