The secretary of state for housing, communities and local government is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, and Cabinet minister, responsible for the overall leadership and strategic direction of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). They are responsible for local government in England. The office holder works alongside the other ministers in the department. The corresponding shadow minister is the shadow secretary of state for housing, communities and local government. The current minister is Angela Rayner, who was appointed to the role under Sir Keir Starmer on 5 July 2024.

History

The Department of Communities and Local Government was created in 2006 by then British prime minister Tony Blair to replace John Prescott's Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, which had taken on the local government and regions portfolios from the defunct Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions in 2002. The secretary of state took over the responsibilities of the minister of state for communities and local government. This post, within the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, was created in 2005, on the transfer of several functions from the deputy prime minister himself. Then Prime Minister Boris Johnson renamed the position Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and gave the secretary and the department responsibility for carrying out the promise in the 2019 Conservative Party manifesto of "levelling up". Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer renamed the department as the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on 8 July 2024, retiring the levelling up monicker.

Responsibilities

Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

List of secretaries of state and ministers

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

Minister of State for Communities and Local Government

! colspan=3 | Minister of State ! colspan=2 | Term of office ! Party ! Ministry ! style="background-color: " | MP for South Shields 2005 2006]]

Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government

! colspan=3 | Secretary of State ! colspan=2 | Term of office ! Party ! Ministry ! style="background-color: " | MP for Bolton West 2006]] 2007 ! style="background-color: " | MP for Salford 2007 2009 ! style="background-color: " | MP for Southampton Itchen 2009 2010 ! style="background-color: " | MP for Brentwood and Ongar 2010 2015 (Con.–L.D.) ! style="background-color: " | MP for Tunbridge Wells 2015 2016 MP for Bromsgrove 2016 2018]]

Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government

! colspan=3 | Secretary of State ! colspan=2 | Term of office ! Party ! Ministry MP for Bromsgrove 2018]] 2018]] MP for Old Bexley and Sidcup 2018]] 2019 MP for Newark 2019 2021

Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

! colspan=3 | Secretary of State ! colspan=2 | Term of office ! Party ! Ministry MP for Surrey Heath 2021 2022]] MP for Tunbridge Wells 2022 2022]] MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland 2022 2022 MP for Surrey Heath 2022 2024

Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government

! colspan=3 | Secretary of State ! colspan=2 | Term of office ! Party ! Ministry MP for Ashton under Lyne 2024

Timeline of secretaries of state

Notelist