Rachel Maclean, the housing minister in the former Rishi Sunak Tory government, is a key speaker at a housing debate at the upcoming Tory party conference.

Maclean was a strong advocate of the Renters Reform Bill that failed to win support amongst Tory MPs in the last Parliament. Maclean was sacked by Sunak in his final pre-election reshuffle. 

Now she is addressing a Tory conference event called ‘Build or block? The future of Conservative housing policy’ which is billed as asking, amongst other things, whether the new Labour government is aiming toput as many of their new homes as possible in Conservatives constituencies, not least those with plentiful green belt. 

Maclean – who backed Liz Truss in the most recent Tory leadership election in 2022 – is no longer an MP.

Other housing events at the Conservative conference include fringe meetings about social housing, the role of housing in making London a global force, preparing for Net Zero in the home, and protecting rural areas from development.