At lunch time today, Housing Minister, Rachel Maclean announced via X (formerly Twitter) that she had been sacked as part of Rishi Sunak’s reshuffle.
Despite being in the midst of a housing crisis, this leaves Rishi Sunak looking for the 16th Housing Minister since the Conservatives one the General Election in 2010.
With many commenting that very little is being done to address the h0using crisis, and the high turn around of ministers not aiding matters.
Rachel Maclean tweeted:
“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.”
Tomorrow Rachel Maclean was due to introduce the Renters Reform Bill to the committee stage.
Homeless charity Shelter described the “revolving door of housing ministers” highlighted the Government’s “failure to grasp the scale and urgency of the housing emergency”.
Polly Neate, Chief Executive of Shelter, commented:
“Rents are rocketing, evictions are soaring and homelessness is at a record high, yet we haven’t had a minister stay in the job long enough to get to grips with the problem. The 16th housing minister since 2010 has to hit the ground running and the first thing on their to-do list must be to pass a watertight Renters Reform Bill and scrap no-fault evictions.”
