Rowley re-appointed as housing minister

Lee Rowley has been re-appointed as housing minister, the Department for Levelling Up Housing & Communities (DLHUC) has confirmed.

Rowley will continue in the role he was appointed to in the Truss government in September. 

Lucy Frazer has also been named as minister of state in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) following Rishi Sunak becoming the new prime minister this week.

Frazer and Rowley will serve under the reappointed secretary of state Michael Gove. 

Rowley, 41, is a milkman’s son originally from Chesterfield, and former management consultant, and was the first member of his family to attend university.

Openly gay, he was a councillor in Westminster between 2006 and 2014, before winning the North East Derbyshire seat from Labour in 2017. As an MP he has been a vocal opponent of fracking in his local area, and has also devoted an area of his web page to “fighting inappropriate planning applications”.

Frazer has held a number of ministerial positions, including justice minister, and solicitor general. Her specific remit at DLUHC is unclear.

See also: Gove is back: key questions for the returning housing secretary

See also: Truss planning reforms ‘set to be ditched’

Dehenna Davison and Baroness Scott of Bybrook have also been appointed as levelling up minister and minister for communities respectively.

Meanwhile Paul Scully has departed the building safety minister role to join the Department Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS). Junior minister Andrew Stephenson has also left DLUHC to join the whip’s office.