Thurrock MP is eighth person to take up role in less than four years

After nearly a month of uncertainty around the role, Jackie Doyle-Price has been appointed as the new minister responsible for construction.

Doyle-Price was appointed as a minister of state in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy along with a number of other MPs on 7 September, shortly after Liz Truss took up office in 10 Downing Street.

Portrait (2)

Source: Richard Townshend

Jackie Doyle-Price had been out of government since Boris Johnson’s election as leader of the Conservatives three years ago

But the respective responsibilities of the ministers, who report to business secretary Jacob Rees Mogg, were not immediately announced, leaving a question mark over who would be the construction sector’s representative in government.

A recent update to the department’s website confirmed that Doyle-Price would serve as Minister for Industry, responsible for construction, as well as infrastructure, manufacturing and a range of other key areas.

The department confirmed to Building that Doyle-Price will take up the co-chair position on the Construction Leadership Council, joining industry representative Mark Reynolds, chief executive at Mace.

Reynolds welcomed Doyle-Price to the role and said: “It’s a vitally important role to take on as our industry faces both significant challenges as well as huge opportunities to support the Government’s ambitious plans for growth.

“We look forward to working with her to support the whole industry – from tier one contractors to SMEs and sole traders – to push towards a new era of delivery for our sector.”

Doyle Price was first elected as MP for Thurrock in May 2010 and has previously worked as an assistant government whip and a parliamentary under secretary of state at the department of health and social care, where she co-chaired the Women’s Mental Health Taskforce as minister for suicide prevention and mental health.

The de-facto construction minister position had been held by Lee Rowley until his resignation in July, replaced on an interim basis by Lord Callanan.

Callanan remains at BEIS, serving as minister for business, energy and corporate responsibility, while Rowley recently took up a new post as the fourth housing minister this year.

There were five construction minister in the three years prior to Rowley’s appointment, including Anne-Marie Trevelyan, current chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, former chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, former Tory part chair Andrew Stephenson and Richard Harrington.

She left the government following Boris Johnson’s election as leader of the Conservative party in summer 2019.

Topics