Rishi has appointed Jacob Young as Under Secretary of State in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, wasting no time replacing Dehenna Davison, who resigned earlier today. Gagan Mohindra has also been appointed Assistant Government Whip. Not quite the blockbuster ri-shuffle everyone is hoping for, although it’s heavily rumoured more movements are expected just after conference…
Dehenna Davison has resigned as Levelling Up Minister this afternoon, citing health reasons in her letter to Rishi Sunak. Davison had already announced she will stand down at the next election, though she has decided to step back a year or so early owing to chronic migraines:
“Unfortunately, for some time now I have been battling with chronic migraine, which has had a great impact on my ability to carry out the role. Some days I’m fine, but on others it is difficult, if not impossible, to keep up with the demands of ministerial life – and the timing of such days is never predictable. Though I have tried to mitigate, and am grateful to colleagues for their patience at times, I don’t feel it is right to continue in the role. At such a critical time for levelling up, I believe the people of communities like mine, and across the country, deserve a minister who can give the job the energy it needs. I regret that I no longer can. And, as my capacity is currently diminished, it feels right to focus it on my constituents, and on promoting conservatism from the backbenches.”
Davison was the government’s youngest Minister, and only joined the Commons benches in 2019. She’s done the full MP lifecycle in record time…
UPDATE: She’s been replaced by Jacob Young…
Read the full letter below…
Last night it was reported the government’s plan to hire 12 Levelling Up directors across the UK has been scrapped, with Levelling Up minister Dehenna Davison confirming in a written ministerial question that the £144,000 jobs, despite “over 500 applicants“, are no longer available following “wider departmental changes“. Labour are fuming, with both Lisa Nandy and Alex Norris declaring the move “an embarrassing shambles“. Norris went even further in PoliticsHome, attacking the hiring process for being “beset by delays”…
“The story of these directors is symptomatic of the government’s approach to Levelling Up: announced with big fanfare before being beset by delays and then quietly dropped by ministers who hope nobody notices.”
Nandy and Norris might want to think twice when complaining the recruitment process for this took too long. Who was supposed to help hire these regional chiefs? None other than the Levelling Up department’s then-second permanent secretary, Sue Gray. Forever waiting for Sue Gray…
As if there was any doubt, the government has ruled out extending voting rights to EU citizens and 16-year olds. In an excoriating letter published by the Mail this morning, Michael Gove slammed Sir Keir’s talk of “rigging” future elections by opening the franchise to those with settled or pre-settled status, and accused the Labour leader of trying to “downgrade the ultimate privilege of British citizenship“. While also pointing out that Starmer also believes only those above 18 should be legally allowed to change gender…
Levelling Up Minister Dehenna Davison has also made it clear this won’t be happening any time soon. In a written statement to Stella Creasy, who asked whether the Department plans “(a) revoke, (b) retain or (c) replace the Representation of the People (England and Wales) Regulations 2001”, Davison said:
“Further to the Elections Act 2022, which amended the franchise for elections reserved to the UK Government to reflect changes to EU citizen’s voting and candidacy rights as a result of our new relationship with the EU, the Government has no plans to extend voting rights in General Elections to those with settled or pre-settled status.
The Representation of the People (England and Wales) Regulations 2001 will be retained.”
Still, while Gove is accusing Starmer of attempting to “rig” elections, Jacob Rees-Mogg claimed the National Conservative conference yesterday that the Tories themselves had attempted to “gerrymander” the local elections with Voter ID laws…
The Tories’ 2019 poster girl, Dehenna Davison, has announced she’s to stand down as an MP after just one term. Dehenna won her seat of Bishop Aukland in 2019, with a swing of 9.5%. However after a meagre five years in the Commons, Davison is to depart at the next election. The third Tory MP to announce they’re doing so…
Davison explains the reason she’s departing:
“For my whole adult life, I’ve dedicated the vast majority of my time to politics, and to help make people’s lives better. But, to be frank, it has meant I haven’t had anything like a normal life for a twenty-something.”
Dehenna is the third Tory MP to make such an announcement, after Chloe Smith and Will Wragg. It’s not like they’re leaving a sinking ship. At 25 points behind Labour, they’re on the ocean floor
UPDATE: Dehenna isn’t the third Tory MP to have announced they’re standing down at all. List courtesy of Alex Wickham:
UPDATE II: Mike Penning announced he was retiring six months ago and Douglas Ross wants to focus on Holyrood apparently.
