DLUHC renamed to ‘Tipp-Ex out’ levelling up

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has been renamed by the new Labour government as the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

This news comes as the new prime minister Keir Starmer appointed 22 Labour MPs and peers to key cabinet positions over the weekend, following the party’s landslide election victory. Angela Rayner has been appointed as the deputy prime minister and secretary of state for housing, communities and local government.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast this morning (9 July), Jim McMahon, minister of state at the department, confirmed that the phrase “levelling up” has been “firmly Tipp-exed out” as it was “never more than a campaign slogan”.

“We are now the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. Why that is important to me is that levelling up was only ever a slogan. It wasn’t a thing that people felt in their communities, but local government wasn’t included.

“It is a reshaping of the department, it is a re-focus, but frankly, it’s also just grown-up politics,” McMahon said.

Following McMahon’s comments, Rayner also confirmed on X (formerly known as Twitter) the change to the department’s name, stating that there will be “no more gimmicks and slogans”.

“The department I lead will be the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government,” she stated.

Between 2018 and 2021, the department was named the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government under former prime minister Theresa May. However, former prime minister Boris Johnson renamed it to DLUHC as part of his government’s agenda.

This week, McMahon and Mathew Pennycook, MP for Greenwich and Woolwich, have been appointed as ministers of state at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

McMahon has served as the MP for Oldham West, Chadderton and Royston since 2015. He was also a councillor from 2003 to 2017, serving as leader of Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council from 2011 to 2016.