This Is Why14 Nov 2023

16 housing ministers in 13 years - has it stopped the job getting done?

There have been 16 housing ministers in the last 13 years of Conservative rule – seven of those in the last two years alone.

With Lee Rowley taking over the housing brief after the prime minister’s latest reshuffle, on the Sky News Daily we’ll be exploring why there has been so many, and if any of them managed to make a difference to the housing crisis.

Presenter Sally Lockwood is joined by Gurpreet Narwan, our political correspondent, on why there has been so much churn. Plus, Sally speaks to Lord Gavin Barwell, who was housing minister for a year under Theresa May, and Polly Neate, CEO of housing charity Shelter explains the challenges facing renters.

Sky News Daily contacted the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities for a response to this episode. A spokesperson said:

"We recently laid out an ambitious long-term plan for housing that includes speeding up the planning system, cutting bureaucracy, and reducing delays to ensure we deliver the homes that local communities want and need.

"We are already on track to deliver one million homes this Parliament, and we have announced £10 billion investment to deliver more of the right homes in the right places without concreting over the countryside.

"Our Renters Reform Bill will deliver a fairer private rented sector, abolishing Section 21 'no fault' evictions so that all tenants have greater security in their homes and are empowered to challenge poor practice without worrying about retaliatory eviction."

Producer: Alex Edden
Promotions Producer: David Chipakupaku
Editors: Wendy Parker and Paul Stanworth

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(1000)

Why Burnham could be getting the Milibands back together

Brothers, rivals, cabinet colleagues? When Ed Miliband beat brother David to the Labour leadership in 2010, it looked as if their relationship had been fractured beyond repair.But it appears Andy Burn...

3 Jul 22min

Why grooming gang ringleader cannot be deported

He’s a convicted child rapist who’s been stripped of his British citizenship. But the ringleader of a notorious Rochdale grooming gang – released from jail this week – cannot be removed from the UK.Sh...

2 Jul 21min

Why Trump’s Iran war is finally costing UK households

Whether you’ve been enjoying or enduring the summer heatwave, running that new air-con unit has just got a whole lot more expensive.For millions of people across England, Scotland and Wales the cost o...

1 Jul 14min

Why Burnham’s housebuilding boom is doomed

Every prime minister promises ambitious plans to build new homes – every prime minister in more than half a century has failed. Andy Burnham says he’ll be different.The former Manchester mayor is on t...

30 Jun 17min

Why British waters are less safe under defence drone plans

Drones in, destroyers out. The Royal Navy looks set to be the biggest losers when the Defence Investment Plan is finally published. Instead of building a new fleet of state-of-the-art warships, we wil...

29 Jun 15min

Why the King's tax return leaves unanswered questions

The King has revealed how much income tax he pays, becoming the first monarch to ever do so. The Palace said the move was “increasing transparency”, but have the royals given us the full picture? Nia...

26 Jun 15min

Why we're in the dark on defence under Andy Burnham

It's all a little awkward. Sir Keir Starmer is set to deliver his defence spending proposals to NATO next month, despite having lost both his job and his defence secretary.But the outgoing PM seems de...

25 Jun 17min

Why is the UK feeling the heat more than ever?

When an event discussing extreme heat at London Climate Week is called off due to... extreme heat, you know things are bad. In the words of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, “London is cooking.” ...

24 Jun 22min