Not in the minister’s back yard: is Starmer’s cabinet onboard with housebuilding plans?

1. Angela Rayner, secretary of state for housing, communities and local government

The deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, who assumed the responsibility of housing and local government upon Labour’s victory last month, has made clear her intentions to build the 1.5m new homes that Labour have promised.

Despite this, she has also previously expressed an opposition to building on green belts, something that Labour will probably have to do to fulfil their promises, releasing a statement against a proposal to build 132 homes on the site of a former primary school in 2019 and marching with residents of Ashton Hurst, Greater Manchester, as they protested against plans to develop homes on the local green belt.

2. Rachel Reeves, chancellor of the exchequer

Rachel Reeves, the first ever female chancellor of the exchequer, has been probably the biggest proponent of the need to build homes on green belt land aside from Starmer himself. Despite this, she has spoken out in the past against housing development in her constituency of Leeds West and Pudsey. In 2019, the future chancellor was opposed to the construction of more than 60 council homes in a disused field on the city’s west side. A lengthy public debate ended in 2022 when Leeds city council’s decision to grant the planning permissions was deemed unlawful.

3. Yvette Cooper, home secretary

Yvette Cooper, a former leadership candidate, was made home secretary by Starmer. Though she had previously pledged to build 500,000 homes during her unsuccessful 2015 leadership campaign, Cooper has also opposed housing plans around West Yorkshire, where her constituency is, most recently backing campaigners who were against a proposal to build more than 400 new homes, including retirement homes, in Wakefield. Reportedly, one of Cooper’s reasons for being against the plans was that the building of those new homes would negatively affect the “village status” of the area.

4. Wes Streeting, secretary of state for health and social care

Wes Streeting has spoken positively about recent developments in housing, but back in 2017 was part of a campaign that successfully prevented the building of 850 new homes on a series of playing fields in his Ilford constituency. Since becoming a secretary of state, Streeting has also reportedly cast doubts on the feasibility to build the previously planned 40 new hospitals by 2030, citing a lack of faith that the deadline can be met.

5. Pat McFadden, chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster 

Pat McFadden, the MP for Wolverhampton South East and the new chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, has in the past opposed a variety of housing builds in his West Midlands constituency, including a proposal to build 40 new homes in the town of Bilston. He also backed the Boris Johnson-endorsed campaign to prevent the development of up to 1,300 new homes in the countryside surrounding the city, saying that Wolverhampton “should not be forced to choose between the new housing that we need and the green spaces that we love”.