Keir Starmer’s newly-appointed envoy to the nations and regions of the UK will not be attending the inaugural meeting of the Council of Nations and Regions tomorrow.
Sue Gray will not attend as she is understood to be having a short break before taking up the role properly.
The ousted No10 adviser was axed from her Downing Street tol after she was blamed for Labour’s catastrophically bad start in government.
The Government has so far failed to publish a job description for Ms Gray’s new role or confirm whether she received severance pay.
Ms Gray resigned as Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff just three months after Labour came to power.
She left after it emerged she received a pay rise which meant she received a higher salary than the Prime Minister.
Confirming her departure, Ms Gray said she was “pleased to have accepted a new role as the Prime Minister’s envoy for the regions and nations”, but her time in Number 10 is now over.
A high-profile and some would say controversial figure since she authored a report into partygate, Ms Gray was appointed to Sir Keir’s top team when Labour were in opposition last year.
Setting up the new council was a key manifesto pledge from Sir Keir.
The meeting is intended to bring together the 11 English metro mayors, the leaders of the devolved administrations, and the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan to discuss “shared challenges” and “opportunities”.
Figures in Scotland have slammed the UK Government for not inviting Scottish council leaders.
Glasgow council leader Susan Aitken said that this means Sir Keir was effectively “ignoring and excluding” not only Glasgow but other Scottish cities.
