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Who is new housing minister Lucy Frazer?
Lucy Frazer, a former Queen’s Counsel barrister turned MP, has been appointed as the new housing minister. But who is she? Grainne Cuffe finds out
Another day, another housing minister.
The government confirmed on Tuesday that Lucy Frazer, who has been the MP for South East Cambridgeshire since 2015, has taken up the role.
Her appointment marks the fifth housing minister this year and 14th in 12 years.
Ms Frazer replaces Lee Rowley, who took up the role on 7 September.
Mr Rowley, now local government minister, replaced Marcus Jones, who held the housing brief for just 62 days.
Mr Jones took the place of Stuart Andrew, who quit amid the rebellion against Boris Johnson, which led to the former prime minister’s resignation.
Mr Andrew took over from Christopher Pincher in February.
You would hope Ms Frazer spends more time in the role than the past three ministers, who worked on an average of 84 days.
What can the sector expect from the 50-year-old?
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Background
Ms Frazer was born in West Yorkshire and attended Newnham College at the University of Cambridge, where she was elected president of the Cambridge Union.
Before becoming an MP, she worked as a barrister in commercial law in London and was appointed to the Queen’s Counsel 10 years ago.
In 2015, she entered parliament and was elected MP for South East Cambridgeshire after winning 48.5% of the vote with a majority of 16,837.
Ms Frazer was elected to the Education Select Committee the same year.
In her maiden speech to the House of Commons, she joked about Oliver Cromwell sending Scottish people to the “colonies” as “slaves”.
She said: “[Cambridgeshire] is the home of Oliver Cromwell, who defeated the Scots at Dunbar, incorporated Scotland into his protectorate and transported the Scots as slaves to the colonies.”
Ms Frazer then added: “Now there is an answer to the West Lothian question – but not one that, of course, I would recommend.”
The MP later apologised.
Ms Frazer backed remaining in the European Union before the 2016 referendum.
Roles in government
Ms Frazer has served in numerous government roles, starting with parliamentary under-secretary of state for justice between 9 January 2018 and 9 May 2019.
From 9 May 2019 to 25 July 2019, she served as solicitor general for England and Wales, and was reappointed to the role from 2 March 2021 to 10 September 2021.
Ms Frazer was then picked to be a minister in the Ministry of Justice, with a focus on prisons. She was in the role from 25 July 2019 to 2 March 2021.
From there she joined the Treasury, where she was financial secretary from 16 September 2021 to 7 September 2022.
In her last role, Ms Frazer was a transport minister from 7 September until 26 October, when she joined the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
On 6 June, the day of the no-confidence vote in Mr Johnson and a month before he resigned as prime minister, Ms Frazer publicly said she would vote to back him.
On 21 October, she tweeted that she was backing Rishi Sunak for prime minister.
She was recently criticised after appearing on the BBC’s Question Time at the end October after saying “we’ve got 40 new hospitals” before correcting her statement to a commitment for 40 new hospitals.
The former was labelled “nonsense” by panel members.
The pledge in the 2019 Conservative manifesto was to build 40 new hospitals in 10 years.
But a recent Sky News investigation found that seven of the 40 promised still do not have a completion date, with another 25 not expected to be finished until at least the next general election in 2024.
Views on housing
Ms Frazer is a landlord herself and owns and rents out a London property. She has previously defended the government’s decision to end eviction protections brought in during the coronavirus pandemic.
She told Question Time in June 2021 that the government had “protected tenants for a long period of time”.
“But it is also important that landlords can take control where it is necessary to do so,” she said.
On social housing, Ms Frazer has consistently voted for phasing out secure tenancies for life.
She has consistently backed charging a market rent to high earners renting council homes.
Ms Frazer has voted in favour of raising welfare benefits in line with prices, but has generally voted for reducing spending on benefits.
She has voted against paying higher benefits over long periods for those unable to work due to illness or disability.
