Lee Rowley has been reappointed as Housing Minister as Rachel Maclean was sacked after nine months in the job.
The revolving door of housing ministers turned again this week, as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made the 16th appointment to the post of Housing Minister since the Conservatives took power in 2010.
Rowley returns to a job he held for just 48 days in 2022 during the doomed tenure of former prime minister Liz Truss. He replaces Maclean, who in February became the sixth housing minister in a single year.
Rowley, MP for North East Derbyshire, was previously working as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Housing, Housing and Communities, but has now been promoted to Minister of State.
Maclean announced she was sacked on Monday afternoon (November 13), telling X, formerly Twitter, that she was “disappointed” she had been asked to step down as part of Sunak’s cabinet reshuffle .
He said he had “looked forward to bringing the Tenancy Reform Bill to committee tomorrow and later the Tenancies and Freeholds Bill”, adding: “It has been a privilege to hold office and I wish you all the best to my successor.”
Maclean was the longest-serving housing minister since Christopher Pincher, who left the post in February 2022 after just under two years. He served longer than each of the last four housing ministers: Lucy Frazer, Lee Rowley, Marcus Jones and Stuart Andrew.
It is not yet known whether Michael Gove will stay on as Secretary of State for Housing, Housing and Communities, or if Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch and de facto Business and Construction Minister Nusrat Ghani will stay on place
Rowley takes over as housing minister at a time when private housebuilding is falling sharply amid pressure from high interest rates.
In September, consultancy PwC said it expected homebuilding output to fall 21 percent this year, while a contraction in construction activity in the same month was largely caused by a fall in private house building, according to S&P Global/CIPS UK purchasing managers. October index.
The UK’s biggest housebuilders are among those to cut output: Barratt Developments said in September it would complete 17-23% fewer homes this year, while Taylor Wimpey said last week which would complete between 26 and 36% fewer homes this year.
Rowley will pick up the Tenant Reform Bill, which was introduced in May this year and would end “no-fault” evictions; as well as the Leasehold and Freehold Bill, which was confirmed in the King’s speech last week and aims to end punitive service charges and make it easier for leaseholders to buy their freeholds.
