Yvette Cooper favourite for Shadow Chancellor

The first challenge for new Labour leader Ed Miliband will be to decide who to make his Shadow Chancellor, with a husband and wife tipped as the favourites.

Former Works and Pensions Secretary Yvette Cooper was voted in top of the list for the Shadow Cabinet positions and has since become a favourite to be Miliband’s next Shadow Chancellor after her role as Chief Secretary to the Treasury during the financial crisis. But her husband, Ed Balls, who came third in the leadership contest and worked in the Treasury under Gordon Brown’s tenure at Number 11 Downing Street, is also seen as a possible candidate for the role.

“We both v happy with the results” Ed Balls via Twitter

Should Ed Miliband opt for Ed Balls it will be a clear indication of where he stands in the deficit debate. Mr Balls has publicly opposed how fast the coalition has decided to introduce cuts in public services to deal with the deficit, and this could potentially decide whether Miliband appoints him in the post.

Mr Balls dismissed any suggestion of tension with his wife over the shadow Chancellor position – a job he pitched for in a recent Labour conference speech.

Commenting on Twitter, the Mr Balls wrote: “We both v happy with the results.”

It is understood Mr Miliband may offer Balls the Shadow Home Secretary job if his wife takes the Shadow Chancellor post.

Winners and losers
The former Housing Minister, John Healey, came second in the secret ballot behind Yvette Cooper, with Ed Balls coming in third. Notable inclusions who served in the previous administration are Alan Johnson, Andy Burnham, Jim Murphy, John Denham and Miliband’s leadership campaign manager Sadiq Khan.

However, some familiar faces were left out of the top 19, including ex-Cabinet ministers Peter Hain, Ben Bradshaw and Shaun Woodward.

Labour rules mean that a Shadow Cabinet is elected every two years and a minimum quota of six females is imposed to promote equality. Ed Miliband has no such concerns as the secret ballot elected 11 women to serve in his Shadow Cabinet.

“There are a lot of women, which is good.” Peter Hain

The parliamentary party returned eight women in total, including Caroline Flint, who quit Gordon Brown’s Cabinet in 2008 after complaining that female ministers were being treated as “window dressing”.

The former Cabinet Office Minister, Tessa Jowell, retains her status and twin sisters Angela and Maria Eagle have secured promotions. They join Ann McKechin and Meg Hillier. Mary Creagh also enters the Shadow Cabinet, having never before served on a front bench.

Harriet Harman remains as Deputy Leader, Baroness Royall as Leader in the House of Lords and Rosie Winterton was appointed as Shadow Chief Whip last week.

Ed Miliband is not expected to name any of the Cabinet positions until later today, claiming he will take his time over deciding his line-up.

Blairite
The Blairite former Chief Treasury Secretary Liam Byrne, scraped over the line with by a single vote, despite ridicule he suffered after he left a letter for his coalition successors claiming the money was “all gone”.

Along with the Labour Leader’s brother David Miliband, Lord Mandelson, Alistair Darling, Jack Straw and Bob Ainsworth have all withdrawn from frontline politics, but some of their former colleagues faced involuntary termination of their careers by missing out on votes. These included Ben Bradshaw, Stephen Timms, Pat McFadden, Chris Bryant, Vernon Coaker and Fiona MacTaggart.

Despite Peter Hain’s failure to gain a place in the 19, he has been handed a life-line because no Labour MPs who have Welsh constituencies gained a place, so he may be installed as Shadow Welsh Secretary.

He told BBC Newsnight last night that he was “disappointed” by the result, blaming fellow Welsh MPs for diluting his support, but added: “It tells us that Labour MPs wanted a new generation of shadow cabinet members…

“There are a lot of women, which is good.”

Jim Murphy, who is being tipped for a big job, said he was “delighted” to be included. He said: “Of course it is sad there are some really good people who didn’t win but I look forward to working with Ed Miliband and all the new team in taking on the Tories and Lib Dems.”

Ex-International Development Secretary, Douglas Alexander, said: “I am humbled that my colleagues have put their faith in me and elected me to serve in the Shadow Cabinet. I will endeavour to repay their trust in me by working hard to oppose and defeat the Coalition Government.”

Gender balance
Maria Eagle told BBC News: “I think the fact that eight women have been elected shows that the Parliamentary Labour Party want a balance in terms of gender.

“They’ve noticed that the Government is gender-blind, it’s hitting women very hard.”

And Ms McKechin said: “I am honoured to be elected by members of the Parliamentary Labour Party to serve in the Shadow Cabinet and will do so to the best of my responsibilities.”

Labour shadow cabinet in full
Here is the full list of members of Labour's new shadow cabinet elected by the parliamentary party:
- Douglas Alexander - 160
- Ed Balls - 179
- Hilary Benn - 128
- Andy Burnham - 165
- Liam Byrne - 100
- Yvette Cooper - 232
- Mary Creagh - 119
- John Denham - 129
- Angela Eagle - 165
- Maria Eagle - 107
- Caroline Flint - 139
- John Healey - 192
- Meg Hillier - 106
- Alan Johnson - 163
- Tessa Jowell - 152
- Sadiq Khan - 128
- Ivan Lewis - 104
- Ann McKechin - 117
- Jim Murphy - 160

Miliband’s first hurdle
Ed Miliband’s first hurdle will be to gain the loyalty of his new Shadow Cabinet, but that will not be easy with 21 Shadow Ministers elected who did not vote for him in the leadership contest. He has only six of the MPs elected who actually voted for him as first preference, which may cause problems when coming to decision-making for the new leader.

Among them, are 10 MPs who thought his brother David was the best man for the job. Many of the new team did not even put Miliband down as their second preference.

Ed Balls voted for himself as leader, as did wife Yvette.

Jim Murphy cast only one vote for David Miliband, as did Alan Johnson, Caroline Flint and Ivan Lewis.

Meg Hillier selected only three choices, none of which were Ed Miliband.

Andy Burnham, Tessa Jowell, Angela Eagle, Liam Byrne and Mary Creagh put him down as third choice.

The six he knows he can rely on for loyal support are Sadiq Khan, Hilary Benn, John Denham, Maria Eagle, Ann McKechin and Rosie Winterton. Deputy leader Harriet Harman stayed neutral.