Reinstalled Housing Secretary Angela Rayner told Labour conference on Tuesday that the property sector is plagued by “cowboys, crooks and con artists”, and her department confirmed agents will need a licence and “appropriate qualifications” to work. Adding more yet more costs to doing business…
On 12 June 2026, Rayner, lurking on the backbenches gave the keynote speech at Propertymark One at ExCeL London. Her register entry shows Propertymark – a membership body for estate agents – paid her £20,000 for two hours.
Defending the booking before the event, its chief executive Nathan Emerson said “Angela Rayner is highly expected to make a return to senior frontline politics in coming months, and if so, her influence over the property sector could be considerable.” On 20 July 2026 she was reappointed Housing Secretary, 28 days after she was paid…
Propertymark has spent its time campaigning for a code of practice, minimum qualifications, and licensing for agents across Britain. It sells exams and is expanding its training for estate agents. As per its own boasts, it certificated over 70% of all regulated Level 3 property agency qualifications over five years…
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.”