This is an accepted version of this page Bridget Maeve Phillipson (born 19 December 1983) is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Education and Minister for Women and Equalities since July 2024.

She went on to study at the University of Oxford before working in local government and then as a manager at Wearside Women in Need.

She was reelected at the 2015 general election and campaigned to remain in the European Union (EU) in the 2016 Brexit referendum.

After Labour's victory in the 2024 general election, Phillipson was appointed Secretary of State for Education and Minister for Women and Equalities in the Starmer cabinet.

[8] Phillipson's mother signed her up for Saturday morning drama lessons at the local community centre, which led to her being an extra on the children's TV programme Byker Grove.

[11] After university, she returned to the North East,[12] where she worked for two years in local government,[13] and then as a manager at Wearside Women in Need between 2007 and 2010.

[27] In Labour Party leadership elections, she voted for David Miliband in 2010,[28] Yvette Cooper in 2015,[29] Owen Smith in 2016,[30] and Keir Starmer in 2020.

[34] As shadow secretary of state for education, Phillipson set out Labour's plans for reform of the childcare and wider education systems, starting with plans for funded breakfast clubs for every primary school child in every school in England.

[13][38] She confirmed that the next Labour government would not abolish tuition fees altogether,[39] and called for far-reaching changes to the skills system in England, including the creation of a new body to be called 'Skills England', devolution of skills and adult education budgets, and greater flexibility with the existing Apprenticeship Levy.

[40] Following the Labour landslide victory in the 2024 general election, Phillipson was appointed as the Secretary of State for Education by Prime Minister Keir Starmer in the lead-up to the formation of the next government on 5 July.

Opposition whip, Luke Evans, said the post "reeks of prejudice and propagates a class war” and shadow treasury minister, Nigel Huddleston, said of it "Parents who send their children to independent schools, who pay twice on their children’s education, deserve better than to be treated with contempt by their government’s education secretary.