Labour has named Alex Cunningham as shadow pensions minister.
Cunningham is a former journalist and has been MP for Stockton North since 2010. He has previously served as shadow environment minister and has been a member of the work and pensions select committee.
He began his political career as a councillor on the now-defunct Cleveland County Council from 1984-97, and was elected to Stockton Borough Council in 1999 where he became cabinet member for children and young people.
Welcoming Cunningham's appointment, Tom McPhail, head of retirement policy at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "It is good news that a new shadow minister has been appointed by the Labour party. There are a number of significant current issues affecting people's retirement plans on which government policy needs to be subjected to scrutiny and challenge.
"After a period of fairly rapid turnover of political personnel dealing with pensions right across parliament, it would be nice to have some stability for a while now."
