She’s Baaaaack.
Burnham’s first days have been the subject of enough Public Affairs consultancies’ blogs, LinkedIn posts, and watercooler chatter. I don’t want to speculate about his priorities; I want to celebrate the return of my favourite Cabinet Minister, Angela Rayner. Or, as I like to call her, respectfully: Big Ange.
Angela is a controversial figure. Many people sneer at her in a way I am sure they wouldn’t if she were a man or spoke with a southern accent, and others query her ability to “do the details”. But to me, Angela embodies everything a Labour Government should be.
For one thing, she doesn’t just talk about council housing; she has lived in it. She understands how transformational a safe, secure home can be to a family in need, and she used that state-funded springboard to work her way to where she is now: one of the UK’s most powerful women.
Sure, there are smatterings of “pebble-dashed semi” storytelling in how her background is deployed in political comms, but the difference here is simple: Angela is authentic. She remembers where she came from, and while you can’t deny she has moved up in the world, she doesn’t look back sneeringly.
For another, she actually got a lot done in her initial tenure. It was Angela who pushed the “Grey Belt” agenda – the first time a government has had the…erm…stones to take on the knotty issue of the Green Belt not really being, well, green. She restarted a conversation about upskilling councils to deliver homes themselves and opened up Right to Buy for real reform for the first time (although how about we just get rid of it entirely this time, Ange?). She drove through the Renters’ Rights Act, which some hate, but I’ve had enough people in my life inform me that their landlord is suddenly proactively making repairs and treating them like a human being to take a nuanced view on it.
The housing crisis is so huge and deeply rooted that it keeps me up at night. It’s a supply problem, a demand problem, an affordability problem, a health problem, and an equalities problem all rolled into one. It’s not easy to fix, and it’s not going to happen in three years.
But I am glad to see someone back in government who at least cares about it. Really cares. Someone who understands the threat of homelessness, understands the insecurity you feel even when you’ve got a bit more money in your pocket, and worries about the housing security of her own children – and everyone else’s.
That might not be enough on its own to fix our housing system. But it’s a brilliant place to start.
