Angela Rayner becomes housing secretary

Angela Rayner has been confirmed as the new Labour government’s secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities and deputy prime minister.

New prime minister Sir Keir Starmer is currently arranging his new cabinet after claiming power from the Conservatives following yesterday’s general election (July 4). These are the roles Rayner held when Labour was in opposition – she became shadow deputy PM and shadow levelling up secretary in September 2023.

Rayner has been vocal about Labour’s ambitions with housebuilding, setting out details of the party’s new towns policy in May, and stating that Labour would oversee "the biggest boost in affordable housing in a generation”.

According to an interview with Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves – now confirmed as the UK’s first female chancellor - in last week’s Sunday Times, Rayner would, if Labour formed the next government, announce a housebuilding programme at the beginning of Labour’s second week.

By the third week, the newspaper stated, Rayner will have instructed local authorities to start “regularly reviewing” their greenbelt boundaries to ensure they are achieving housing targets.

Rayner takes over from previous levelling up secretary Michael Gove, with whom the industry experienced a …