Rachel Maclean confirmed as new housing minister

New Department of Levelling Up, Housing & Communities minister Rachel Maclean has confirmed she will oversee the housing brief.

Rachel Maclean was earlier this week announced as a new minister at the Department of Levelling Up, Housing & Communities following the departure of housing minister Lucy Frazer.

Maclean, a former parliamentary private secretary (PPS) to Sunak when he was chancellor, was initally announced as “minister for state”.

The widespread assumption was that, given the rest of the ministerial team and roles at DLUHC appear to remain unchanged, Maclean would become the new housing minister, but the government initially did not confirm her exact role.

She has now confirmed her new position on Twitter. The 57-year-oid, who represents the seat of Redditch, in Worcestershire, has held a number of junior governmental positions since being elected in 2017.

These include serving as PPS at the Treasury in 2019 and 2020 followed by a stint at the Department of Transport. She was appointed PPS for safeguarding at the Home Office but resigned during last summer’s political crisis that saw the resignation of Boris Johnson as prime minister.

She served briefly as minister for victims and vulnerability at the Ministry of Justice before becoming a vice chair of the Conservative party in November 2022.

Maclean was the co-chair of former John Lewis boss Andy Street’s successful campaign to become West midlands mayor in 2017. Maclean was educated at Oxford and worked for HSBC before founding publishing company Packt, which publishes books and materials on IT.

She also founded a charity working with schools to help young people develop skills that businesses look.

Maclean tweeted this week, saying: “Delighted to be appointed as minister in DLUHC. Looking forward to a new challenge, tackling one of the defining issues the government faces. I start now!”

McLean is the sixth holder of the title in less than a year. Her appointment as minister came amid widespread dismay from the industry that the departure of her predecessor Lucy Frazer after such a brief tenure – just 102 days – in the job meant yet more policy instability.

Stephen Teagle, chief executive of Vistry-owned partnerships housebuilder Countryside Partnerships, said: “We need a government that fundamentally recognises the importance of housing and seeks to establish a long term plan and deliver on it over at least a decade – not the short-termism evident by the roundabout of ministers seen with the latest political moves.

“All political parties need to recognise the contribution of housing with a strategy, and bring stability to the ministerial appointments.”

Richard Beresford, chief executive of the National Federation of Builders (NFB), said: “six housing ministers in a calendar year and watered-down planning reforms suggests the Government isn’t taking the housing crisis seriously enough.”

Peter Hardy, partner and co-head of housing at law firm Addleshaw Goddard, said: “The number of housing ministers we’ve seen over the last ten years would be comical were it not such a crucial role. The real estate sector deserves a committed and knowledgeable minister for housing, not someone who has only a surface-level understanding of the many myriad issues it’s faced with. This is important stuff.”