Charity leaders handed peerages by departing Starmer

Charity leaders are among a raft of life peerage appointments made by Keir Starmer as he ended his two year tenure as Prime Minister this week.

Those ennobled by Starmer, who was replaced yesterday as PM by Andy Burnham, include Alison Garnham, chief executive of Child Poverty Action Group.

The charity said that the life peerage she has received follows the charity's role in the Starmer government's abolition of the two child benefits limit, and increasing free school meals eligibility.

“We’ve seen some good first steps towards reducing child poverty but there is much more to do,” said Garnham.

“I look forward to working from the Lords to ensure every child in the UK has a fair start.”

The co-executive directors of global legal action charity The Death Penalty Project, Parvais Jabbar and Saul Lehrfreund have also been ennobled.

“Their appointments recognise more than three decades of leadership and advocacy dedicated to defending the rights of some of the world’s most marginalised people, advancing access to justice and challenging the use of the death penalty and other cruel punishments across the globe,” said the charity.

“Since founding The Death Penalty Project (DPP) in the 1990s, Saul and Parvais have built a leading international legal action organisation working at the forefront of criminal justice reform and the global movement to end capital punishment.”

DPP board member Simon Goldberg added that their life peerages are a “well-deserved recognition of their decades-long dedication to supporting individuals facing the cruelty of the death penalty and ending capital punishment for good”.

He added: “It has been an honour and a privilege to see how the organisation has, under their watch and leadership, grown in size and impact, and we look forward to continuing our shared work to protect human rights and advance justice around the world.

Also being made a life peer is Cathy Ashley, the chief executive of Family Rights Group for the last 22 years and former chair of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust.

“I can’t help thinking how proud my dad and older brother would have been,” she said.

“My resolve to transform our child welfare system in the interests of children and their families is greater than ever, and I welcome this peerage as opening up a further opportunity to achieve this goal.”