Josh Simons is made a government minister only 18 months after becoming a Wigan MP

The 32-year-old Labour politician, who has been tipped for high office, has accepted the offer to become minister for digital government in the Department of Science, Innovation, and Technology and the Cabinet Office.

He says that the role will be “to make government work better for millions of people across Britain.”

The appointment was announced on his social media and some of what he said related to local issues, which he both links in with his new job and infers that the national role will not impede his work in Wigan.

He said: “If you are a constituent, you know by now that my mission in politics is to make our government serve working class people.

"I’ve said in coffee mornings, schools, and doorsteps, that too much of what happens in Westminster is driven by pressure groups or commentators, people averse to conflict because they’ve become too comfortable, frightened of ripping up the status quo so it better serves you.

"I am not like that and never will be. I’m grafting to get to know everyone I represent, visiting primary schools, monthly coffee mornings, knocking on your doors, holding community events.

"This year, that will start to show results.

"Among many things, I want £120m for the Wigan East-West Link Road, £20m to rebuild and put new health provision in the Hindley Leisure Centre, new health provision in Orrell at Edge Hall Road, hundreds of thousands of pounds to start the biggest ever Wigan flood project to protect Hindley, Platt Bridge, Abram, and Ashton, and to secure progress on saving Ashton Library.”

But he added: “While I do that, our country is at a turning point. I’ve only been an MP for 18 months but I’ve been quite shocked.

"The British state was once the best in the world, full of talented, dedicated public servants who harnessed technology to serve this country with energy and flair.

"For decades, politicians obsessed with Westminster gossip have failed to grapple with massive changes and allowed our state to decline.

"In the years ahead, I want to do my bit to turn that around.

"Digital tools and data are a vital part of it. We need big state reform, to join up services, make them more accessible, to have the courage to take risks and say it how it is.

"The result should be simple: instead of having to fight constantly to get what you are entitled to, we must make government work better for you.”

Cambridge and Harvard-educated, father of two Mr Simons was a visiting research scientist at Facebook from 2018 to 2022, developing its ethics strategy for artificial intelligence.

He was elected MP for Makerfield at the 2024 general election; in the November of that year appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary for the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs; and later a PPS for the Ministry of Justice.

In a 2025 cabinet reshuffle, Mr Simons was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office, but now takes up this new role.