Matthew Pennycook | |||||||||||||||
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 Official portrait, 2020 | |||||||||||||||
| Minister of State for Housing and Planning | |||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 6 July 2024 | |||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Keir Starmer | ||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Felicity Buchan (Housing) Lee Rowley (Planning) | ||||||||||||||
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| Member of Parliament forGreenwich and Woolwich | |||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 7 May 2015 | |||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Nick Raynsford | ||||||||||||||
| Majority | 18,366 (43.0%) | ||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||
| Born | Matthew Thomas Pennycook (1982-10-29)29 October 1982 (age 43) Hammersmith,London, England | ||||||||||||||
| Political party | Labour | ||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | London School of Economics (BA) Balliol College, Oxford (MPhil) | ||||||||||||||
| Website | matthewpennycook | ||||||||||||||
Matthew Thomas Pennycook (born 29 October 1982) is a BritishLabour Party politician who was elected theMember of Parliament (MP) forGreenwich and Woolwich in2015.[1] He was appointedMinister of State for Housing and Planning in July 2024.[2][3]
Matthew Pennycook was born on 29 October 1982 inHammersmith,[4][5] and was raised in a single-parent family in South London. He was educated atBeverley Boys Secondary School, acomprehensive school inNew Malden, London. He joined theLabour Party at the age of nineteen.[6]
Pennycook studied History and International Relations at theLondon School of Economics and Political Science, graduating with afirst-classBachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 2005.[5] He was awarded the CS MacTaggart Scholarship Prize for the best overall degree performance in any subject.[7] He subsequently won a scholarship to attendBalliol College, Oxford, studying for aMaster of Philosophy (MPhil) degree in International Relations.
While still a student, he volunteered with theChild Poverty Action Group and worked with then-Chief Executive,Kate Green, who later became a Labour MP. Before becoming an MP himself, Pennycook worked for a number of charitable and voluntary organisations including the Fair Pay Network and theResolution Foundation, where he led on issues relating to welfare reform, low pay and working poverty. He also worked for a while in Parliament as an assistant to Labour MPKaren Buck.
Pennycook was a Labour councillor forGreenwich West from 2010 to 2015, resigning in March 2015 just before the general election.[8] He also served as a trustee of Greenwich Housing Rights and was a school governor at James Wolfe Primary School in West Greenwich. He has written multiple articles forThe Guardian about the need for a living wage in the UK and has served on theLiving Wage Foundation's advisory board.[9]
In November 2013, he was selected as the official Labour Party candidate forGreenwich and Woolwich,[10] as the sitting MP,Nick Raynsford was retiring.
At the2015 general election, Pennycook was elected as MP for Greenwich and Woolwich with a majority of 11,946 votes and a 52.2% share of the vote on a turnout of 63.7%.[11][12] Pennycook gave hismaiden speech in theHouse of Commons during a debate on the economy on 4 June 2015.[13]
Following Labour's defeat at the2015 general election, Pennycook endorsedYvette Cooper in thesubsequent leadership election andTom Watson for thedeputy leadership . He supportedSadiq Khan in the campaign forselection of the candidate for the2016 London Mayoral election.
In July 2015, Pennycook became a member of the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee. He served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Shadow Minister of State for Housing,John Healey MP from 2015, resigning from the position in June 2016.
He was one of 161 Labour MPs who backedOwen Smith in his unsuccessfulLabour Party leadership campaign to replaceJeremy Corbyn in September 2016.[14]
Pennycook campaigned in favour of a "Remain" vote for the2016 referendum on EU membership[15] and his Greenwich and Woolwich constituency voted 64% to remain.[16] After the referendum results were announced, Pennycook was appointed one of the Shadow Ministers forBrexit in October 2016,[17] and, in accordance with the Labour Party whip, voted for the Bill totrigger Article 50.[18]
At the snap2017 general election, Pennycook was re-elected as MP for Greenwich and Woolwich with an increased vote share of 64.4% and an increased majority of 20,714.[19][20]
In October 2018, Pennycook expressed concerns about newly qualified teachers leaving the profession, citing issues such as stagnant pay, rising living costs and a lack of affordable housing to rent and buy.[21]
In September 2019, he resigned as shadow Brexit minister in order to campaign actively in favour of holding a second referendum and unequivocally for the UK to stay in the EU.[22]
At the2019 general election, Pennycook was again re-elected, seeing his share of the vote decrease to 56.8% and his majority reduced to 18,464.[23][24][25]
FollowingKeir Starmer's victory in the2020 Labour Party leadership election, Pennycook returned to theOpposition frontbench asShadow Minister for Climate Change.[26] In the December 2021 frontbench reshuffle, Pennycook was appointed Shadow Minister for Housing and Planning.[27]
In May 2021, Pennycook announced his opposition to a 1,500-home development project in his constituency over concerns about the height of its plannedhigh rises.[28]
In March 2022, Pennycock argued that housing supply is not a "panacea for affordability".[29]
At the2024 general election, Pennycook was again re-elected, with an increased vote share (compared with the notional 2019 result) of 56.2% and a decreased majority of 18,366 (though an increase compared with the notional 2019 result).[30]
On 6 July 2024, he was appointed as Minister of State at theMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (until 8 July 2024, theDepartment for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities), working under Secretary of StateAngela Rayner.[31][32] Compared to other Labour ministers, he was recognised as having good experience in the housing sector, having tabled numerous amendments to the Renters (Reform) Bill during the previous Parliament.[33]
Pennycook is married to civil servant Joanna Otterburn and they have two children.[34]
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| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forGreenwich and Woolwich 2015–present | Incumbent |
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