Who’s in and who’s out in the new parliament?

Originally written as a column for Inside Housing.

It’s all change for housing at Westminster after a stunning election victory for Labour. More than half of the MPs who will be sworn in this week are new to the Commons while decades of experience on the green benches were swept away in the Conservatives’ worst defeat of the modern era. 

Just about the only continuity so far came with confirmation that Angela Rayner will step across from her shadow role to become the new deputy prime minister and secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities and minister of state while former shadow housing minister Matthew Pennycook will be one of her ministers of state.

That promises well with a busy agenda to come. Despite the implication that the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) will keep the title it was given under Boris Johnson, there is speculation that a new name is imminent. 

James Riding has already introduced many of the new MPs on the Labour side, while the Labour Housing Group focussed on eight of them on Red Brick ahead of the election, but it’s worth highlighting some of the results that have extra resonance:

Andrew Lewin (Welwyn Hatfield): There are two big reasons to start here. First, because Lewin worked for Clarion for seven years, most recently as director of communications, second because of who he beat. Grant Shapps was the first and longest-serving housing minister since 2010 and associated with many of the most contentious changes under the coalition. He was the minister responsible for ending top-down housebuilding targets and the creation of the New Homes Bonus and was also a supporter of ending lifetime tenancies and defender of what he called the removal of the spare room subsidy.

Dan Tomlinson (Chipping Barnet): Another double reason for celebration. First, the defeated Tory incumbent was Theresa Villiers, one of the leaders of the backbench rebellion that led to the Conservative retreat on housebuilding and planning that will now be reversed under Labour. Second, Tomlinson is an economist who has worked at the Treasury and most recently the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, so should be well placed to advocate for anti-poverty and pro-housing policies. He grew up on free school meals and was homeless for a time as a child. 

Sarah Sackman (Finchley and Golders Green): Taking Margaret Thatcher’s old seat of Finchley and Golders Green was a symbolic victory for Labour and winning in a constituency with a large Jewish population is seen as a vindication of Keir Starmer’s firm line on anti-semitism. A barrister specialising in planning and environmental law, expertise that could be very useful for this government, Sackman has acted for local authorities and charities such as Shelter. She also acted for residents in a case that saw a High Court judge quash planning permission for Curo no demolish and rebuild large parts of the Foxhill Estate in Bath.

Danny Beales, Uxbridge and South Ruislip: Taking Boris Johnson’s old seat after losing in the by-election last year was another symbolic result for Labour. Beales experienced homelessness, temporary accommodation and life in bed and breakfast as a child and was previously cabinet member for new homes, jobs and communities at Camden Council.