Britain’s homelessness minister has stepped down after reports emerged that she evicted tenants from a property she owns and then sharply increased the rent.
In a resignation letter to Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday, Rushanara Ali, a junior minister in the Ministry of Housing, insisted she had “followed all the legal requirements at all times” as a landlord.
Ali, who represents Bethnal Green and Stepney in Parliament, was accused by British outlet The i Paper of evicting four tenants from her four-bedroom east London home last year during a sale process. The house, previously rented for £3,300 ($4,433) a month, was reportedly re-listed and let for £4,000 ($5,374) just weeks later after failing to sell.
The MP has previously spoken out against landlords exploiting tenants with “unreasonable rent increases”. In her resignation letter, she said she took her “responsibilities and duties seriously” but recognised that the controversy risked distracting from “the ambitious work of the government”.
“I have therefore decided to resign from my Ministerial position,” she wrote, adding she was proud of helping deliver “record investment in social and affordable housing” and securing nearly £1bn to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping.
The end of rental contracts is one of the leading causes of homelessness in the UK. Starmer’s government is preparing a Renters’ Rights Bill to ban “no-fault” evictions and prevent landlords from re-listing a property at a higher rent within six months of eviction.
Ali is the fourth Labour minister to resign under pressure, following the departures of transport minister Louise Haigh, anti-corruption minister Tulip Siddiq, and junior health minister Andrew Gwynne for unrelated reasons.
The wave of resignations comes as Labour faces sliding poll numbers, trailing Nigel Farage’s right-wing Reform UK just over a year after winning a landslide election. A June YouGov poll suggested Reform UK could secure 271 parliamentary seats, with Labour on 178.
Conservative Party chairman Kevin Hollinrake accused Starmer of presiding “over a government of hypocrisy and self-service”.
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