His appointment was made after Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner was announced as the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and MP and barrister Shabana Mahmood announced as the new Chancellor and Secretary for Justice.
Matthew Pennycook has been the MP for Greenwich and Woolwich since 2015 and during the rush to pass the renter’s reform bill prior to the general election the MP said: “Labour will turn the page on 14 years of Tory chaos, deliver where the Tories have failed and pass robust renters reform legislation that abolishes Section 21 no-fault evictions immediately and decisively levels the playing field between landlords and tenants.”
Estate agency membership organisation Propertymark have said they ‘welcome’ Pennycook’s new appointment, saying the MP with play a ‘pivotal role’ in the government moving forward with their housing target of 300,000 new homes a year.
Nathan Emerson, CEO of Propertymark said: “Propertymark welcomes the appointment of Matthew Pennycook as Housing Minister within the newly formed cabinet. Housing must play a pivotal role for the government moving forwards and in real terms, delivering over 1,100 new homes every single working day for the next five years will take immense planning and enormous stakeholder engagement to achieve.
“There needs to be a long-term cross-party approach with continuity built in as standard – we should never be looking at a housing plan as an insular five year government term, in case of any change down the line.
“The housing sector is crying out for a vastly increased supply to keep pace with demand, there simply can be no room for error moving forwards or we may end up with prices artificially rocketing due to consumer desperation in finding a suitable home for their needs.
“There must be a broad mix of sustainably built homes that brings much needed stock to both buyers and renters. The plan must be delivered with precision and in a way that is connected with wider government planning to ensure key infrastructure is provisioned for as the population further grows.”
One Response
Congratulations on winning the election!
I understand why Labour had to back-peddle on the party’s original promise to ‘abolish Leasehold in the first 100 days’, but as one of the 5, 000,000 + people regularly fleeced and always oppressed by this unfair and outmoded system, I fervently hope that this government will not place the issue permanently on hold as so many of its predecessors have done.
Leasehold is a nasty remnant of feudalism, the kind of system to which Labour is most opposed, please destroy it and warm the hearts of 5M future voters!