New housing minister Rachel Maclean will be 15th since 2010
- Published
Rachel Maclean has been promoted to the role of housing minister
Rachel Maclean has been named as the new housing minister - the 15th since the Tories came to power and the sixth to hold the post in the past 12 months.
Housing is not alone in seeing a rapid turnover of ministers, partly as a result of the UK changing leaders twice since last summer.
But campaigners are hoping Ms Maclean will last longer in the job than most of her predecessors.
She will play a key role in attempting to solve the UK's housing crisis.
The Redditch MP replaces Lucy Frazer, who was promoted to culture media and sport secretary after just three months in the housing job, in Rishi Sunak's mini reshuffle.
TV presenter Kirstie Allsopp - a former government adviser on housing - messaged Ms Maclean suggesting that, since she was the sixth housing minister in a year, there was no point meeting her to discuss these issues.
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Grant Shapps holds the record as the longest serving housing minister since the Conservatives came to power, in coalition with the Lib Dems, in 2010.
Ms Allsopp - best known for Channel 4 show Location, Location, Location - was his adviser in opposition and then in the early years of David Cameron's coalition government.
Labour's shadow levelling-up secretary, Lisa Nandy said the high turnover "would be funny if it wasn't so serious".
"How can we have any hope of solving a housing crisis? This is no way to run a serious government," she said.
'Too much'
Mr Shapps, the newly-appointed energy secretary, held the housing brief when the Conservatives were in opposition and served in the role for two years and four months when they entered government.
Samuel Hughes, head of housing at the Centre for Policy Studies, a free market think tank, said: "We have had many good housing ministers in recent years, but there can be too much of a good thing.
"Choosing one excellent housing minister and then sticking with them would help a lot in delivering the sustained and systematic reform we need.
"Without those reforms, the housing shortage will continue to worsen, destroying the dream of homeownership for a generation of young people."
'Important role'
As Levelling Up secretary, Michael Gove is in overall charge of housing policy - and delivering on the government's pledge to create more new homes.
But, argues Polly Neate, chief executive of housing charity Shelter, the rapid turnover of junior housing ministers matters because "housing should be the top priority for this government".
The government "won't resolve the cost of living crisis without resolving the cost of housing crisis", she adds.
"It is always the secretary of state that calls the shots but junior ministers have a really important role in making things happen and in backing up promises with delivery - and getting stuck into the root causes."
The housing minister is particularly important because they are responsible for social housing, says Ms Neate, which Shelter sees as the key to solving the crisis that has seen a rapid rise in people living in temporary accommodation in recent years.
"We need somebody that shares Michael Gove's belief that we don't have enough social homes," says Ms Neate.
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Ms Maclean, who has had junior ministerial jobs in the justice department and Home Office, since becoming an MP in 2017, has yet to comment in detail on her new role.
She said on Twitter, external: "Delighted to be appointed as Minister in @luhc. Looking forward to a new challenge, tackling one of the defining issues the government faces. I start now!"
Other government departments have seen a high turnover since 2010, with 12 prisons minister over that time and 10 immigration ministers. There have only been five schools ministers, however, with Nick Gibb occupying the role on three separate occasions.
The Institute for Government (IfG), which aims to improve the way the UK is run, says "constant ministerial turnover" is damaging.
"The [new] minister has to get used to their new policy responsibilities, and the civil servants they work with have to adapt to their particular priorities and preferred ways of working," said an IfG spokesman.
"Housing in particular has seen a huge amount of turnover in recent years, which will have had an inevitable effect on how the relevant departments have been able to deliver policy."
A government spokesperson said: "We are absolutely committed to making sure the housing market works for everyone.
"Increasing the number of genuinely affordable homes is central to our levelling up mission and since 2010 we have delivered over 620,000 affordable homes in England, including over 160,000 for social rent.
"The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill will give communities power to bring forward the right homes in the right places and we're taking tough action against social housing landlords providing a poor service and have set our proposed rental reforms that will ensure a fair deal for renters."
Housing ministers since 2010
Grant Shapps (2 years and 4 months)
Mark Prisk (1 year and 1 month)
Kris Hopkins (9 months)
Brandon Lewis (2 years)
Gavin Barwell (11 months)
Alok Sharma (7 months)
Dominic Raab (6 months)
Kit Malthouse (1 year)
Esther McVey (7 months)
Chris Pincher (2 years)
Stuart Andrew (5 months)
Marcus Jones (2 months)
Lee Rowley (7 weeks)
Lucy Frazer (3 months)
Rachel Maclean