Senior Labour MP Luke Pollard is temporarily stepping back from his role as shadow environment secretary following the shootings in his Plymouth constituency earlier in August.
Jake Davison, 22, killed his mother, Maxine Davison, 51, at her home in Plymouth before going outside and shooting dead four others in a 12-minute attack on the evening of August 12.
Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, said Plymouth Sutton and Devonport MP Mr Pollard was stepping back from his shadow cabinet role “so he can support his community after the shootings” in the Keyham area.
He will return for the party’s autumn conference in late September and, in the interim period, shadow farming minister Daniel Zeichner will lead Labour’s environment team.
Today I've agreed a request from @LukePollard to take a step back from his shadow environment role for the next month so he can support his community after the shootings in Keyham. He will return for #Lab21.
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) August 30, 2021
While away, @DanielZeichner will look after Labour's Defra work.
A Labour spokesman said: “Following the shootings in his Plymouth Sutton and Devonport constituency, Keir Starmer has agreed to a request by Luke Pollard MP to temporarily step back from his role as shadow secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs for the next month to focus on supporting the victims, their families and the wider Plymouth community.”
After killing his mother, Davison’s victims included three-year-old Sophie Martyn and her father Lee, 43, who were shot dead in an attack witnessed by horrified onlookers as they walked their pet dog in Biddick Drive.
Davison then shot Stephen Washington, 59, in a nearby park, before shooting Kate Shepherd, 66, on Henderson Place.
He then turned the gun on himself before armed officers reached him.
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