Angela Rayner appointed housing secretary
News05.07.245.40 PM by James Riding
Angela Rayner has been appointed secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities.
Angela Rayner outside 10 Downing Street today (picture: Alamy)
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Angela Rayner has been appointed secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities #UKhousing
The MP for Ashton-under-Lyne was confirmed as a key figure in new prime minister Sir Keir Starmer’s cabinet on Friday, following Labour’s general election victory.
As well as her role as housing secretary, Ms Rayner has also been appointed deputy prime minister.
She takes over as secretary of state from Conservative Michael Gove, who stood down as an MP at yesterday’s general election.
Ms Rayner grew up in social housing on a council estate in Stockport. At the age of 10, she became a carer for her mother, who has bipolar disorder.
Ms Rayner became pregnant at 15 and left school with no qualifications a year later. She eventually became a care worker and then a trade union representative at Unison.
She has held the shadow housing brief within Labour since September 2023, when she took over from Lisa Nandy. At last year’s Labour Party Conference, Ms Rayner pledged to deliver “the biggest boost in affordable and social housing for a generation”.
In May, she set out the Labour Party’s plans for a new generation of new towns, a gold-standard target of 40% affordable homes, including a mix of social, council and other tenures.
Housing featured prominently in Labour’s general election manifesto. The party committed to planning reform and 1.5 million new homes. Ms Rayner has also said she would “immediately” ban Section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions for private landlords.
In March, a book alleged that Ms Rayner had misled tax officials in the sale of her council house under the Right to Buy in 2007.
In May, Greater Manchester Police and Stockport Council said they would take no action against her. Plus, HM Revenue and Customs also said she did not owe any capital gains tax and thus no action would be needed.
As Sir Keir continued to appoint his cabinet on Friday afternoon, it was not yet known if Matthew Pennycook will be appointed housing minister.
He had previously told Inside Housing that the “majority of grant funding under a Labour government will be for social rent”.
He had been serving under Ms Rayner as shadow housing minister before the election was called.
Kate Henderson, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, congratulated Ms Rayner on her appointment.
She said: “Housing associations across the country look forward to working in partnership with you to deliver the biggest boost to social and affordable housing in a generation. Wishing you every success in government.”
Mr Gove tweeted: “Congratulations to Angela Rayner on taking over such a wonderful department with a truly great team of civil servants – wishing her all the best on levelling up.”
Melanie Leech, chief executive of the British Property Federation, said: “We look forward to working with Angela Rayner in her role.”
She continued: “The size of Labour’s majority is a strong platform to take the swift and decisive action in key areas such as planning, that will give long-term investors confidence and unlock more private capital to deliver housing.”
Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said: “Angela Rayner has inherited a housing emergency at boiling point,” but, “having grown up in a social home herself she knows better than anyone that building decent, affordable social housing is the best way to curb the current crisis.”
She continued: “We need 90,000 social rent homes a year to clear waiting lists and eradicate homelessness. But her first task must be to bring forward a strong bill in the King’s Speech that makes renting safer, secure and more affordable.”
At the end of last month, Sir Keir set out Labour’s plans for housing in Britain in Inside Housing, which included a commission to build new towns and urban extensions.
