John Healey is Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Housing since 2015. He is MP for Wentworth & Dearne in South Yorkshire, first elected in 1997. He was PPS to the Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown from 1999-2001 and then served for nine years in the Labour Government as Minister for adult skills and apprenticeships from 2001-2, and then in the Treasury from 2002-7 as Economic Secretary and Financial Secretary. In 2007, John was appointed Local Government Minister, before becoming Housing Minister attending Cabinet from 2009. As Housing Minister he led a big housing investment programme, including kickstart funding for stalled commercial sites, a boost to affordable housebuilding and getting councils building new homes at scale again for the first time in a generation.

Labour has committed to establishing a fully-fledged Housing Department, headed by a Secretary of State. In his role as Shadow Housing Secretary, John is responsible for leading all areas of Labour’s policy on housing, including housebuilding, homelessness, the private rented sector, social housing, homeownership and fire safety in residential properties, in response to the Grenfell Tower fire.

Before becoming an MP John worked as a campaigner for disabled people and in the trade union movement. He was also a part time tutor at the Open University’s Business School and from 1994 to 1997 he was Campaigns Director for the TUC, where he helped draw up plans for the introduction of the National Minimum Wage, learning representatives and new rights for trade union members.