Key points:
  • Reshuffle took limelight away from Reform UK conference
  • Experienced new SoS for MHCLG in Steve Reed
  • Poor timing in replacing Jim McMahon as Minister for Local Government
  • Will English Devolution be derailed?

Politics can be a brutal business. Angela Rayner has been forced to resign as Deputy Prime Minister, Secretary of State of MHCLG and Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, over speculation regarding her purchase of a flat in Brighton overshadowing the Reform Party Conference. Not ideal timing for either party.

With Reform riding high in the polls and Nigel Farage returning from speaking before a congressional committee in the USA to lead the party’s rapturous party conference in Birmingham, few could have expected that Angela Rayner would take the limelight away so spectacularly.

Rayner’s resignation has sparked a wider cabinet reshuffle by Keir Starmer, which had been speculated for some time, but this presented a better opportunity for more change. Let’s not forget, Starmer had tried to demote Rayner after poor local election results in 2021. With David Lammy now Deputy Prime Minister, Yvette Cooper now Foreign Secretary and Steve Reed now MHCLG Secretary, Rayner’s resignation has resulted in the Prime Minister taking his most decisive action since entering No.10.

Unfortunately, this is likely to have unintended consequences for housing and local government at a time when stability is needed.

So, who is Steve Reed? First elected to Parliament in 2012, Reed previously served as Leader of Lambeth Council between 2006-2012 and acted as co-chair of the Vauxhall-Nine Elms-Battersea regeneration board. Promoted from DEFRA to MHCLG. In a political culture where power plays and political favours are more important in appointing ministers than experience, there is no doubt that Reed has experience in his new brief.

However, this is a critical time for MHCLG. Amongst the pressures the Chancellor is under to balance the books and turn the economy round and the Home Secretary is facing to close down migrant hotels across the country, the 1.5 million new homes the Government has promised to deliver over this parliamentary term is an opportunity to help solve both of these issues. The problem remains, as ever, on delivery and whether Steve Reed will be able to drive this forward from policy to implementation at a quicker pace than Angela Rayner was. She has left post with projected new homes completions at 186,000 over the past year, far below where they need to be for the Government to reach its target. Alongside this is the ambition to create new Strategic Mayoral Authorities with new mayors having the power to call in strategically significant planning applications and lead on strategic housing in their regions, a move that could help the Government achieve its housing targets. The question is whether English Devolution will to its current timescales or be delayed.

Of course, English Devolution is also important to help reduce the pressures on the Treasury in supporting local government and the replacement of Jim McMahon as Minster for English Devolution and Local Government has come at the worst time. Well liked cross-party by council leaders and seen as pragmatic in moving forward with devolution and the establishment of new unitary authorities, the Prime Minister has replaced a minister at a far from opportune time. English Devolution is moving at pace with most two-tier areas required to submit final proposals to MHCLG by 28th November 2025. For those areas taking part in the Devolution Priority Programme, decisions will soon be made, by the Minister who has the ultimate decision, on the shape of new unitaries before shadow elections are held in May 2026.

To replace the Minister who has the power to create new local authorities by Ministerial Directive at this time is ill-advised and does not provide the reassurance needed to local leaders that the Government is taking their drive for English Devolution seriously. Whilst much of the heavy lifting in bringing forward proposals for new unitary authorities is being conducted by current local authorities themselves and so there is hope that the Minister will accept many of the suggestions put forward to them, multiple options for some areas will be submitted as local authorities vie for influence and control over their successor authorities. So, the Minister may need to make some difficult decisions. Time will tell if Jim McMahon’s replacement, Alison McGovern, is up to the task but by then the damage may have already been done.

 

Edited image of Steve Reed MP. Original image © Crown copyright 2024, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Modified with Google Gemini