Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has started a reshuffle of his shadow ministers.
The reorganisation began as the party’s deputy leader Angela Rayner was giving a speech about ministers’ conduct.
Asked about the reshuffle, Ms Rayner said she “didn’t know the details”, adding: “I’ve been concentrating on the job that I’m doing.”
In early moves, shadow culture secretary Jo Stevens will replace Nia Griffith as shadow Welsh secretary.
And earlier, Cat Smith said she was stepping down as shadow secretary of state for young people and democracy.
Ms Rayner’s spokesman told the BBC that “she was informed the reshuffle was taking place” but didn’t know “any of the details”.
A source close to the Labour leader said Ms Rayner was told a reshuffle would be taking place on Monday.
The last Labour reshuffle, after May’s national and local elections, triggered an internal row when Sir Keir attempted to remove Ms Rayner from her roles as party chair and national campaign co-ordinator.
Sir Keir cannot remove her from her main role as deputy leader, as she was elected into this position by party members.
Although Ms Rayner eventually lost both roles, she was given two new shadow cabinet titles following a backlash inside the party.
The BBC’s chief political correspondent Adam Fleming said a key feature of this reshuffle might not be new personnel but the fact that the party’s deputy leader appears to have been kept at arm’s length.
Writing to her party leader, Ms Smith – the MP for Lancaster and Fleetwood – said she was “grateful” for Sir Keir’s offer to keep her in her shadow cabinet position.
However, she said she would leave her role, adding: “I wish to focus more of my time in my Lancashire constituency.”
Corbyn row
She said the pair had a meeting scheduled during which she wanted to raise concerns about former leader Jeremy Corbyn “not being readmitted to the Parliamentary Labour Party”.
She wrote that the current situation was “utterly unsustainable” adding “it is important you truly understand how much damage this is causing”.
In her letter, Ms Smith also raised the issue of proportional representation, and concluded that she wished the shadow cabinet “well” but added: “I do hope you will reflect on some of these concerns I have aimed to outline constructively and from the point of view of one of our few remaining northern ‘red wall’ Labour MPs.”
Last week, the Labour leader told the BBC he had not spoken to his predecessor Mr Corbyn in over a year, since a report was published into anti-Semitism in the party in October 2020.
Mr Corbyn’s reaction to the report saw him suspended from the party – and while he was allowed back as a party member, he still sits as an independent MP.