Prime minister continues cabinet reshuffle
Rachel Maclean (pictured) has been asked to step down as minister of state at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) as part of prime minister Rishi Sunak’s cabinet reshuffle.
Maclean confirmed the news in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
I’ve been asked to step down from my role as Housing Minister. Disappointed and was looking forward to introducing the Renters Reform Bill to Committee tomorrow and later the Leasehold and Freehold Bill. It has been a privilege to hold the position and I wish my successor well.
— Rachel Maclean MP (@redditchrachel) November 13, 2023
“I want to thank everyone in DLUHC who it has been a huge pleasure to work with, as well as all those who have given their time, commitment and energy to work with me and inform policy on this vital agenda,” she said. “I will never lose my passion for housing and planning.”
Maclean was appointed to the position on February 7, 2023. She was previously minister of state at the Ministry of Justice between September 7 and October 28, 2022.
Previously, she was also parliamentary undersecretary of state at the Home Office and at the Department for Transport. She was elected conservative MP for Redditch in 2017.
Sunak, who began a reshuffle of the cabinet earlier today with the sacking of home secretary Suella Braverman, is expected to name the 16th housing minister since 2010 soon.
Meanwhile, property and mortgage experts offered their thoughts on what this development means for the UK housing market and whether it is feasible for a minister to effectively address the UK's housing crisis considering the often brief duration of their tenure.
“Given how important housing is to our society, it is a shame we have such a ministerial merry-go-round,” commented Justin Moy, managing director at EHF Mortgages.
“Plenty of the property issues date back long before Maclean’s time in the role, and there are not a lot of quick fixes either, so the need to remove her must be in readiness for an election. Why does the government continue to play roulette with some of the most important roles in the cabinet?”
Paresh Raja, chief executive of Market Financial Solutions, said that “while the chopping and changing of ministerial positions has become all too common across the board in recent years, the level of turnover in this particular role is a notable concern.”
“Creating clear and consistent policies – let alone delivering on them – is inevitably difficult with such frequent changes in personnel, and this impacts homeowners, buyers, renters and investors alike,” Raja added.
“A sense of stability is important in virtually every industry, and the property sector would certainly benefit from an extended period with a single housing minister, although this is only likely after the next general election.”
For Michelle Lawson, director at Lawson Financial, the removal of Maclean as house minister “came as no surprise.”
“This post needs to be made a senior role with more responsibility rather than a junior role feeding the higher departments,” she remarked. “Housing is one of the fundamentals of the UK economy and, given the current housing crisis, needs someone that can turn it around for the better before the whole thing implodes further. It needs a long-term plan, not endless short-termism.”
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