James Brokenshire appointed new housing & communities secretary

He takes over from Sajid Javid, who has been appointed as Home Secretary following the resignation of Amber Rudd in the wake of the Windrush scandal. Mr Javid had been the Housing, Communities and Local Government secretary since 2016.

Brokenshire has been an MP since 2005 and was the former minister for Northern Ireland but resigned in January due to cancer treatment.

James Brokenshire said: ‘I am honoured to have been asked by the Prime Minister to serve as Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government. I am determined to get Britain building the homes our country needs so everyone can afford a place to call their own.

‘One of my top priorities is going to be ensuring everyone affected by the Grenfell Tower fire gets the support they need and we learn lessons from the tragedy so something like this can never happen again.

‘As the son of a former chief executive of a council local government is in the blood for me. So I look forward to working with councils across the country by supporting them to deliver quality public services and build strong integrated communities.’

Reacting to the appointment, Cllr Paul Carter, chairman of the County Councils Network, said: ‘CNN would like to congratulate James Brokenshire on his appointment as the Secretary of State for the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government – an excellent appointment. We worked closely with James during his time as immigration minister in 2014; I very much look forward to working with him again over the coming years. James is well equipped to manage the large and complex local government agenda ahead.

‘James Brokenshire inherits a major agenda ahead as part of his new local government brief – the fair funding review, housing and planning, the social care green paper, and increased business rate retention. Major decisions will need to be made, in short order, not least the outcome of the needs-led fair funding review. It is important we keep up the momentum, continuing to position counties as the local authorities that can offer solutions to the government’s significant domestic issues.’