Michael Gove returns as secretary of state for the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

by Patrick Garratt - 1st November 2022

The new prime minister Rishi Sunak brought back Mr Gove as the secretary of state for the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities as part of his recent cabinet reshuffle.

Gove’s return comes just three months after he was fired by Boris Johnson shortly before he himself resigned.

Michael Gove has a reputation for disruption, plenty of which was included in the Renters Reform white paper which he launched before his departure.

In a BBC interview on ‘Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg’  he indicated that renters will be among the groups who will be targeted for extra support in the Autumn Statement on 17 November and that the renters reform proposals will become legislation when he confirmed that measures to deal with “a small but noxious minority of landlords who are not treating their tenants properly”, would go ahead, confirming “We will bring forward that legislation to deal effectively with them,”

Mr Gove also confirmed that the target to build 300,000 new homes  annually, ‘in the right places’ remains.

He said,  “We need to build more homes for people to own, more homes for social rent…but we need to be straight with people, the cost of materials…and a very tight labour market…means the capacity to build those homes at the rate we want is constrained,”.

Read more about what the Renters Reform white paper means for landlords here.