Michael Kane was born on 9 January 1969 in Wythenshawe. He was born to Joseph and Kathleen (née McGirl) Kane, both Irish immigrants who migrated separately to Manchester in 1955.[1]
He attended St Aidan's Primary School in Northern Moor, moving on to St Paul's RC High School in Newall Green before studying for his A Levels at Loreto College, Hulme, Manchester.[2] He graduated from Manchester Metropolitan University with a BA in Social Sciences in 1997 and a PGCE in 1999.[3]
After university, Kane was a primary school teacher at Springfield Primary School in Sale.[1][4]
In 1991 he was elected to Manchester City Council in Northenden ward, gaining his seat from the Conservatives (the sitting councillor stood as an Independent Conservative against her replacement, but Kane had more votes than both put together).[6] He was re-elected in 1995, 1999, 2003 and 2004.[7] Kane was appointed Executive Member for Arts and Leisure in 2007.[8] When his was up for re-election in 2008, he was defeated by eight votes, losing to the Liberal Democrat candidate.[9]
In July 2013, Kane became the acting chief executive of Movement for Change, an organisation set up by David Miliband to run local political campaigns and train organisers.[12] Kane had backed David Miliband in the 2010 Labour leadership election.[13]
In February 2017, he posed how education could be improved by making schools more democratic and accountable to parents - "to coin a phrase, we need to give them back some control". When it comes to the administration in education, he added "...we can’t have 24,000 schools run from the Department for Education...the schools commissioner regions are too large. Wilshaw [Sir Michael, the former Ofsted chief inspector] said that politicians should be involved in raising standards in schools. But how can they do that? They have no formal powers...". On the topic of local powers to help the issue, "The new mayors of Greater Manchester, Greater Merseyside, Birmingham, will have no input at all. If the regional schools commissioners came under their remit, then mayors would be directly accountable for helping to raise standards. I see that as a way forward".[5] When asked about his favourite education secretary, Kane bluntly said why it was David Blunkett: "He went through the system. He went to night school. He got the idea of pulling yourself up by your bootstraps with some support from the state – and he rebuilt schools that were falling down. When I started training, just as Labour came to power, a lot of my practice was holding a bucket under the rainwater coming in through the roof. By the end of that government … we’d rebuilt the school".[5]
Kane was again re-elected at the snap 2017 general election, with an increased vote share of 62.2% and an increased majority of 14,944.[21] He was again re-elected at the 2019 general election, with a decreased vote share of 53.3% and a decreased majority of 10,396.[22]
Shadow minister for aviation and maritime
From April 2020 to May 2024, Kane was shadow minister for aviation and maritime.[23] In October 2021, Kane proposed the "Amess Amendment" after the death of Sir David Amess, highlighting to parliament that "...Catholics believe that extreme unction helps guide the soul to God after death, so maybe we could come up with an Amess amendment so that no matter where it is, in a care home or at a crime scene, members, or anybody, can receive that sacrament.".[24] Formally, this amendment will ensure access for Catholic priests to administer the last rites, including at crime scenes.
In 2022, amidst P&O's controversial sacking of 800 workers, Kane affirmed his support for their "workforce reinstated and legal action taken against P&O", and in addition, for the practice of "fire and rehire" to be outlawed.[25] This practice involves an employer dismissing a worker and rehiring them on new, less-favourable terms and has seen major UK companies use this practice such as Tesco,[26]Weetabix[27] and British Airways.[28]
In November 2022, Kane stated that it is "not good enough" for tenants to "wait months for assessments and for repairs" when they ask housing providers for consideration. Furthermore, he believes in abolishing Section 21 with the intended effect of registering landlords and having "minimum standards being committed to law which would give councils stronger powers to act with rogue landlords".[29]
Minister of maritime, aviation and security
At the 2024 general election, Kane was again re-elected, with a decreased vote share of 52.6% and an increased majority of 14,610.[30]
