Angela Rayner could lose responsibility for housing in a reshuffle that would see her effectively demoted, Sky News suggests.

Sky News deputy political editor Sam Coates says he “has been told there is a memo “that’s been flying around government with this proposal to strip out housing from Angela Rayner’s department.”

Rayner would remain Deputy Prime Minister but have her position as Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government stripped from her. This would be just as the Renters Rights Bill reaches the statute book, but too early for Rayner to take credit – or criticism – depending on the success or otherwise of the government’s 1.5m new homes target by mid- 2029.

This follows a report that suggested Rayner wants to tax savers to achieve more government revenue, according to a separate secret memo leaked to The Daily Telegraph. 

Coates says he’s been told “by a very senior figure in Angela Rayner’s department” that they will only hit the 1.5m homes target if they get a “generous settlement” in next month’s spending review. 

Coates continues: “In other words, Angela Rayner is facing the prospect of having too little cash to deliver one of the government’s flagship promises. So she is telling Rachel Reeves in the context of this spending review, I think as well, raise more money.”

Another political commentator – Anne McElvoy, speaking in a broadcast with Coates – says she has also heard a “scuttlebutt around in Whitehall that [housing] might be moved out of Angela Rayner’s brief”.

She states that the government denies that a Cabinet reshuffle is imminent but that “at the same time, there does seem to be quite a lot of work going on”.