Still no Labour shadow housing spokesman after Healey resignation

In case you were wondering, it appears that the Labour party has still to find someone to replace John Healey as shadow minister for housing.

It is believed around 60 shadow posts remain unfilled after a series of resignations last week by shadow cabinet and shadow junior spokespeople, expressing dissatisfaction with Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.

Amongst the resignations was John Healey, who in the past had served as housing minister to both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown in previous Labour governments.

The party did not respond to an enquiry from Estate Agent Today about when or if there would be a replacement named.

However, after last week’s volatility there is a shadow communities and local government secretary of state, with some overview of housing matters - he is Jon Trickett, MP for Hemsworth in west Yorkshire and a former parliamentary private secretary to Gordon Brown when he was prime minister.

The Labour party has also declined to comment on timescales and the eventual fate of the Redfern Review into housing supply and related issues. 

Last month the party closed its consultation period on the review, having sought comments on its draft policies from the property industry as well as party supporters.

The review has been regarded as a non-partisan activity with highly-regarded independent experts such as Dame Kate Barker from Credit Suisse, Terrie Alafat the chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing, and Ian Mulheirn of Oxford Economics taking part. The process has been chaired by the chief executive of Taylor Wimpey, Peter Redfern.