Angela Rayner has been appointed housing secretary in Andy Burnham’s cabinet, returning to the role she resigned from in September 2025 after admitting underpaying stamp duty on the purchase of an £800,000 flat. Rayner was cleared of any wrongdoing in May following an investigation by HMRC.
The role was announced in a series of appointments shared last night, including former defence secretary John Healey as the new chancellor, replacing Rachel Reeves.
In a post on social media, Rayner said she is “delighted to have accepted the position of Secretary of State at the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government”.
She added: “Andy Burnham’s vision of good growth in every postcode demands we build on the foundations we have already laid to bring the change we have promised. I look forward to returning to government with renewed drive and determination to put power back in people’s hands – and hope back in our hearts.”
Rayner gave a hint of what her priorities will be as she returns to the housing brief during a Q&A session at the Propertymark One conference in June (pictured at the conference, image courtesy of Propertymark).
Answering questions that had been submitted by the audience, Rayner dismissed Conservative MP Sir Mel Stride’s promise to scrap duty during the conference, saying: “Abolishing stamp duty has a £14 billion cost. You can say something on a headline but there are choices that have to be made.”
More important, she said, was a commitment to delivering the party’s manifesto promises, pointing out that when criticism had been levelled it was “when we deviated from the manifesto”.
Describing the challenges that come with housebuilding on a massive scale, Rayner said the government needed to “turbo-boost the work that has already been started” and drive “a cultural change” through a package of reforms including investment into critical infrastructure.
“We haven’t invested into critical infrastructure in decades”, Rayner pointed out. “That comes out in frustrations at local elections, and people say if we do this, this will happen – that’s not true.
“There isn’t one lever – there are a lot of complex issues.”
Reforms including the mayoral planning model, local plans, and changes to the right to buy system are instilling confidence into councils and local authorities and bringing about a cultural shift, Rayner said.
“There are genuine concerns around transport and services and a lack of infrastructure with large developments,” she explained. “To see a massive uptake in housebuilding we have to look at the other challenges like dentistry and the transport system. There are so many challenges.”
Rayner now returns to tackle those challenges as she takes up the position of housing secretary for the second time, replacing Steve Reed, who was the first cabinet member to resign from Burnham’s government, citing loyalty to Sir Keir Starmer.
Reed’s tenure as housing secretary was largely uneventful, despite promising to “build, baby, build”.
Outlining his housing achievements in his resignation letter to Burnham, Reed said he had “strengthened planning reforms to speed up housebuilding across the country, with a radical acceleration package for London where housebuilding had ground to a near-halt under the Conservatives.”
He added: “I’m proud we built more new council homes last year than in any other year for 40 years when records first began. I opened the £39bn funding programme that will build even more, and I introduced historic reforms to strengthen protection for social tenants, leaseholders and renters. I’ve started work on setting up a state housebuilder to keep housebuilding going through
periodic slow-downs and I hope you will take this forward.”
Reed made no mention of the home buying and selling reform and roadmap, spearheaded by his former department, in his resignation letter.
One Response
If Angela Raynor could ensure that the ‘not for profit ‘ organisations have to buy back retirement properties, that would help many families who have huge on going fees left for years after the death of a loved one.
It would help free up large family homes as more older people would be prepared to move into retirement properties.