What do we know about the new homelessness and building safety ministers?

Alison McGovern, MP for Birkenhead on the Wirral Peninsula, has finally been confirmed as her replacement. She has since withdrawn from her bid to succeed Ms Rayner as deputy leader of the Labour Party.

Ms McGovern – once an aide to former prime minister Gordon Brown and previously chair of centrist group Progress (now Progressive Britain) – has also taken over the local government brief from Jim McMahon.

The ripple effect of the cabinet reshuffle also saw building safety minister Alex Norris move to the Ministry of Justice. He has been replaced by Samantha Dixon, MP for Chester North and Neston.

Matthew Pennycook, MP for Greenwich and Woolwich, remains in his role as minister for housing and planning.

So, what do we know about new ministers Ms McGovern and Ms Dixon, and what experience will they bring to their roles?

Alison McGovern, minister for local government and homelessness

Ms McGovern has moved to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), where she was minister for employment.

She was born in Clatterbridge, Merseyside, in 1980. Her father was a British Railway telecoms engineer, while her mother was a nurse.

Ms McGovern studied philosophy at University College London and after graduating worked as a researcher at the House of Commons.

She was first elected as a councillor for Brunswick Park in the London Borough of Southwark in 2006 and later became deputy leader of the council’s group of Labour councillors. 

Ms McGovern won the seat for Wirral South during the general election in 2010 and later became parliamentary private secretary for then-prime minister Mr Brown. She was also previously chair of Progress, a movement within the party closely aligned with the New Labour vision.

She was elected as MP for Birkenhead in July 2024.

Announcing her new role, Ms McGovern posted a photo of her holding a mug from her time working as a councillor in Southwark. “Second red box. This time, as minister for local government and homelessness,” she said.

“So much to do to rebalance our economy and make sure there are no more forgotten places, no more forgotten people.”

Speaking during a Commons debate on welfare spending in July, Ms McGovern said she was “deeply proud” that the government had committed funding for social housing to get children out of temporary accommodation. 

With homelessness at a record high, Ms McGovern faces a challenging brief. One of her first major priorities will be delivering the long-term cross-party homelessness strategy, which is expected to be published this year.

Ms McGovern’s register of interests showed she previously owned a flat in Manchester from which she received rental income until 2013.

Samantha Dixon, minister for building safety, fire and democracy

A former government whip and council leader, Ms Dixon is now MP for Chester North and Neston in Cheshire.

Born in Reading in Berkshire, Ms Dixon’s family moved to Chester when she was a child and she has lived in the area ever since. 

She studied English literature at the University of Sheffield, graduated in 1987, and later worked for auction house Sotheby’s as a senior press officer.

Between 2011 and 2023, Ms Dixon was a local councillor for the City and Garden Quarter ward at Cheshire West and Chester Council, before becoming leader of the local authority in 2015.

According to Ms Dixon’s website, she established the country’s first council-led Poverty Truth commission, and was awarded an MBE for her services to the city.

She was first elected as MP for City of Chester in a by-election in 2022. In 2024, the MP was re-elected in the new constituency of Chester North and Neston. 

In opposition, Ms Dixon campaigned for leasehold reform. During a speech in 2023, she accused the government of dragging its feet on changing the system while “people’s lives are being seriously adversely affected”.

Ms Dixon’s new portfolio oversees building safety regulations, net zero and energy efficiency, as well as the government’s response to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry.

On Monday, during her first outing as minister for building safety, Ms Dixon introduced draft regulations on the Building Safety Levy to the Commons and announced it will start being charged from 1 October 2026. 

Earlier this year, then-housing secretary Ms Rayner delayed the introduction of the levy by a year following a warning by house builders that it would jeopardise build targets.

Ms Dixon has confirmed that all affordable housing is exempt from the levy charge, as well as “any housing built by a non-profit registered provider of social housing”.