PRS Policy Reform Delayed As Gove Dismissed
Johnson’s key PRS policy reform may be delayed once again with the Tory party’s bloodbath of ministerial resignations, Gove’s dismissal ( called a ‘snake’ in the official announcement) and Boris’s resignation, although promising to stay on until the Autumn.
As seems the case it is seemed as ‘wise’ to keep one’s enemies closer than friends as Gove has had a string of high level posts in the government including Chief Whip, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Justice Secretary and Environment Secretary and the most relevant and recent, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
It was only last month that Gove announced the somewhat controversial White Paper ‘A Fairer Private Rental Sector’ as a pre-cursor to the eventual PRS policy reform Rental Reform Bill, shifting the ‘power’ from landlords to tenants.
However with yesterday’s PM resignation, many are speculating on how long it will now take for the White Paper’s recommendations to be legislated into the Rental Reform Bill, as the government chooses Johnson’s successor over summer.
One of the 50 or so ministers who resigned was housing minister Stuart Andrew who had been in his post for just 148 days and says in his resignation letter: “Loyalty and unity are traits that I have always endeavoured to provide for our great party. However, I fear I have let these override my judgement recently. There comes a time when you have to look at your own personal integrity and that time is now.”
Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities also lost another minister- Kemi Badenoch who resigned citing the same reasons as Andrew, which leaves just the one minister in the department Eddie Hughes who remains a Johnson loyalist.
Hughes is officially the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Housing and Rough Sleeping, started his post in January 2021 and was at Johnson’s side in the latest PM’s Question Time.
Apparently Hughes has been instrumental in the creation of the White Paper, however his future is unknown because of Johnson ‘stepping down’ fully in the near future.
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