Starmer appoints Labour shadow housing minister

Bristol West Labour MP Thangam Debbonaire has been appointed the new shadow minister for housing by Labour leader sir Keir Starmer.

The appointment of the MP, who shadowed two ministerial roles under Jeremy Corbyn’s tenure, comes after the appointment of long-serving shadow housing minister John Healey as shadow defence secretary.

Debbonaire, 53, became an MP in the 2015 election, and first served as shadow culture minister under Corbyn’s leadership, before resigning her post alongside other ministers to support the leadership challenge of Owen Jones.

Despite this, she was re-appointed as a whip in Corbyn’s team shadowing the Department for Exiting the EU, before becoming a shadow minister in Keir Starmer’s team.

In a statement on her website Debbonaire, who has little public track record on housing, said she was “honoured” to have been asked to serve as shadow secretary of state for housing and was looking forward to “campaigning for strong housing policies that will improve lives across the country.”

She said the country faced a chronic shortage of housing, particularly affordable homes and social housing, and that improving the energy efficiency of homes was an “urgent need”.

“In this national crisis and the effort to limit the spread of covid-19, our homes are becoming more important than ever,” she said. “Social distancing in a cramped, unsafe flat is very different from spending time at home in a large house with a garden.”

Her appointment came as Starmer used his first days to appoint a shadow ministerial team including leadership rival Rebecca Long-Bailey as shadow education secretary and former labour leader Ed Miliband as shadow business secretary.

Starmer has appointed former Lambeth council leader and Croydon North MP Steve Reed as shadow communities secretary. A shadow home office minister under Ed Miliband, Reed was while Lambeth leader co-chair of the Vauxhall-Nine Elms Regeneration Partnership.