Two Caerphilly County Borough MPs have been appointed to Labour’s front bench in Westminster by new party leader Keir Starmer.

Caerphilly MP Wayne David will serve as a shadow Foreign Office minister responsible for the Middle East and North Africa, while Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney MP Gerald Jones will serve as a shadow Wales minister.

In his new role, Mr David will work alongside newly-appointed shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy MP, who herself stood in the party’s leadership race, which was won by Mr Starmer on April 4.

The Caerphilly MP, who was re-elected in December’s General Election, previously worked as a shadow defence minister.

Mr David said: “I am very pleased to have been asked by Keir Starmer to join the front bench.

“Our priority now is to do everything we can to defeat coronavirus, but once the crisis is over, it is important to begin in earnest the task of holding the government to account and developing policies which Labour would implement in government.

“The domestic agenda is obviously important but, if the Covid-19 crisis has taught us anything, it is that we live in a global community; what happens in one part of the world, affects us all.”

Mr Jones, who was first elected to parliament in 2015, previously served as a shadow Wales minister between 2016 and 2017, and had been a shadow defence minster since 2017.

Mr Jones said: “I am delighted to be taking on the role of shadow Wales minister, supporting the new shadow secretary of state for Wales Nia Griffith MP under the leadership of Keir Starmer.

“I will do everything I can to stand up for the people of Wales and hold the UK Government to account at this difficult time, as our country battles the coronavirus pandemic.”