UK Welcomes New Shipping Minister

Robert Goodwill, MP for Scarborough and Whitby, has been named as the UK’s new shipping minister. As Shipping Minister, he will have responsibility for completing the Maritime Growth Study.

Earlier he was appointed as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport on Tuesday, but his specific duties within the department have been announced this week.

He replaces John Hayes MP, who has held the position since July 2014 and has been moved to the Home Office.

Goodwill will have responsibility for completing the ongoing review of the nation’s shipping industry and its international competitiveness, being conducted by the UK’s Maritime & Coastguard Agency, says a statement of the ministry.

Goodwill has some previous experience in a transport capacity. He joined the Transport Select Committee after being elected to parliament in 2003. When Gordon Brown was made prime minister in 2007, Goodwill was made a shadow transport minister until May 2010.

In October 2013, Goodwill was promoted to parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Department for Transport in a cabinet reshuffle.

Currently, he is a member of the all-party groups on Agriculture and Food for Development, Beer and Youth Hostelling. He lists his political interests as the Environment, Energy and the Former Soviet Republics.

He is married to Margaret and they have a daughter and two sons. He speaks French, German and some Russian.