Just 140 days after being elected, Ellesmere Port and Neston MP Justin Madders finds himself in Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow ministerial team.

He has been asked to join the Opposition front-bench as a shadow health minister.

Mr Madders will be part of Labour’s health team led by shadow secretary of state Heidi Alexander, MP for Greater London seat Lewisham East since 2010.

He will be responsible for a wide-ranging portfolio including hospital care, ambulance services, NHS education and skills, maternity services and patient experience and safety.

The team is completed by north west MPs Luciana Berger, Andrew Gwynne and Barbara Keeley who hold seats in Liverpool and Greater Manchester and by Labour peer Lord (Philip) Hunt, who has held posts since 1998.

NHS - 'greatest achievement'

Mr Madders said: “The NHS is arguably our greatest achievement as a nation and so I am extremely proud that I have been asked to be part of Labour’s health team.

“However, the NHS is also facing some of its greatest challenges, with mounting budgetary pressures and a whole range of issues brought about by changes in our society.

“My job is to fight to ensure that Government policy is up to the challenge and that we give the medical professionals the support they need to continue to provide a first class service.

“Although this will be a busy role, I will continue to do my very best to represent the people of Ellesmere Port & Neston who it has been a pleasure to serve.”

Mr Madders lives in Little Sutton with his wife, Cheshire West and Chester councillor Nicole Meardon and three children.

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He grew up in the constituency and became the first person in his family to go to university where he gained a law degree.

Mr Madders qualified as a solicitor in 1998 and at the same time became a councillor.

During his career in employment law he defended the rights of working people to be treated fairly and with dignity at work only representing employees including those who worked at local employers such as Vauxhalls and Quinn Glass.

He became leader of Ellesmere Port and Neston Borough Council, which was abolished in 2009, and Labour group leader of Cheshire West and Chester Council before stepping down ahead of the May elections.

Locally he represented Ellesmere Port Town ward on the borough council.

His wife, Cllr Nicole Meardon (Lab, Sutton), is Cabinet member for children and families at the borough council.