Gove returns to take levelling up mantle
Former housing secretary Michael Gove has been appointed to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s cabinet, giving him another opportunity to level up the regions and strengthen building safety laws.
Michael Gove is the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Secretary, replacing Simon Clarke, who quit after just seven weeks in the job.
It is a role that Gove previously held between September 2021 and July 2022, before he was sacked by Boris Johnson for urging the former PM to resign.
It was later rumoured that Gove intended to quit politics for good, although he stressed in September that this was untrue.
When he last held the levelling up post, Gove was responsible for a raft of policy proposals intended to address regional economic disparities, reform the private rented sector, and toughen up building safety laws.
He oversaw the publication in February of the Levelling Up White Paper, a social and economic programme intended to underpin all government policy, funding, and procedure.
This was followed in May by the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill that sought to enshrine the programme in law. But it remains some way from receiving Royal Assent.
Gove also oversaw proposals to create a fairer private rented sector in England, set out in a white paper in June and draft parliamentary bill. Under the plans, tenants would get greater powers to challenge unscrupulous landlords.
He was also behind the Building Safety Act 2022, parts of which have come into force, or are about to in the coming months. Alongside other measures, the act attempts to come down heavy on developers that have failed to fix unsafe cladding on buildings, a topic that came to light after the Grenfell fire tragedy in 2017.
Secondary legislation is required to enact this part of the reforms, and Gove was sacked from government before many builders had signed contracts confirming their plans to remediate faulty or outdated cladding from their properties so that leaseholders weren’t having to foot the cost.
He wrote to the industry in January giving developers a deadline of early March to agree to a fully funded plan of action, including fixing unsafe cladding on 11-18-metre-high buildings. He warned he would take “all steps necessary” to make this happen, despite the anticipated cost to developers running to £4bn.
Gove was chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster from July 2019 to September 2021, and Cabinet Office minister from February 2020 to September 2021. He was Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from June 2017 to July 2019.
He was elected Conservative MP for Surrey Heath in 2005.
What did he do last time
By Anonymous
At least it means that levelling up is still on the agenda as I think he does believe in it. With Northern Powerhouse having disappeared, the last thing we needed was yet another minister with yet another pointless headline grabbing catch phrase and the whole cycle starting again. His appointment at least brings some measure of consistency.
By Simon
i believe him honestly
By Anonymous
Politicians are PR professionals. That is all they do. PR = Propaganda
By james yates
Levelling up will only happen when the establishment and monarchy have their money invested in this region and so have a self interest in rail and underground coming here and not only London.
By Anonymous
Simon is correct. Gove was effective in that role and therefore his appointment is welcome.
By Elephant
No time for him personally but as ministers go he’s been quite effective
By Levelling Up Manager
Crossrail for the north and reverse as many of the Beeching Cuts as possible. Otherwise it’s meaningless.
By BC
He was actually better than most of the professional mouth pieces we’ve had. Best we can do until we get more capital and power shifting north. Sadly that’s likely to be long after I’m gone.
By Jeff