A company which is the UK’s major seller of estate agent qualifications boasted about having a ‘strengthened dialogue’ with Angela Rayner and her ministers after paying her £20,000 to speak at an event. Mere weeks later, Rayner announced qualifications would be made compulsory…
Yesterday Guido reported on Rayner’s £20,000 fee from Propertymark in exchange for speaking at their conference on 12 June 2026. At Labour Conference this week MHCLG happened to announce it will legislate for an independent regulator requiring property agents to hold a licence and qualifications…
Eight days after Rayner entered government Propertymark said in a statement to Estate Agent Today: “Angela has played a significant role in decisions affecting the property sector and bringing her to Propertymark One created an important opportunity for our members and the wider industry to hear directly from her, ask questions and hold her to account on the issues that matter to them.” They added that they got a line to her ministers:
“The event also provided a valuable opportunity to establish and strengthen a direct dialogue with Angela and her ministerial colleagues.
With Angela now reinstated as Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government within Andy Burnham’s administration, creating this closer channel of communication enables us to maintain constructive engagement with key decision-makers, represent the interests of our members, provide insight from those working across the sector, and contribute to discussions that help shape policy outcomes for the benefit of the property industry and the wider sector.”
On 25 September MHCLG ministers denied direct communication between Rayner and Propertymark in response to a question from Tory shadow minister David Simmonds:
“Details of ministerial meetings are published on gov.uk on a quarterly basis. The Secretary of State has not exchanged ministerial correspondence with Propertymark, not has she met with Propertymark since her reappointment.”
Incidentally this does not speak to her ministers, or staff in her private office. The Ministerial Code requires ministers to avoid any conflict that “could reasonably be perceived to arise”, and new ministers must declare to their permanent secretary any interests that might be thought to cause one. Did Rayner declare the Propertymark fee on her reappointment? Did the Independent Adviser give advice on it? Was she recused from decisions on agent regulation?
Green Deputy Leader Rachel Millward said:
“The reality is that it’s Zack Polanski who brought the nation, Andy Burnham. And if we hadn’t had the success of the Green Party in this last year since Zack’s been leading, which has been unprecedented, phenomenal success and a growth from about 60,000 members to 230,000, if we hadn’t had that much pressure on Labour, then we’d probably still be in the Starmer regime, which was pretty much ushering in a Reform government with its lurch to the right. So actually, what we’re seeing now is that we’ve set the political agenda and the government is picking that up.”