Steve Reed | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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.jpg) Official portrait, 2024 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 5 September 2025 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Keir Starmer | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Angela Rayner | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 5 July 2024 – 5 September 2025 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Keir Starmer | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Steve Barclay | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Emma Reynolds | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Member of Parliament forStreatham and Croydon North Croydon North (2012–2024) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 29 November 2012 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Malcolm Wicks | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Majority | 15,603 (35.0%) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Leader ofLambeth Council | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 24 May 2006 – 29 November 2012 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Peter Truesdale | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Lib Peck | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Member ofLambeth Council forBrixton Hill Town Hall (1998–2002) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 7 May 1998 – 29 November 2012 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Steven Mark Ward Reed (1963-11-12)12 November 1963 (age 62) St Albans,Hertfordshire, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | Labour Co-op | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | University of Sheffield (BA) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Signature |  | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Website | Official website | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Steven Mark Ward Reed (born 12 November 1963)[1] is a British politician who has served asSecretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government since September 2025, having previously served asSecretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from 2024 to 2025.[2] A member of theLabour and Co-operative Party, he has been theMember of Parliament (MP) forStreatham and Croydon North, formerlyCroydon North since2012.
Reed served asShadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from September 2023 to July 2024, forCommunities and Local Government from 2020 to 2021, and forJustice from 2021 to 2023. Prior to his election to Parliament, he was Leader ofLambeth London Borough Council from 2006 to 2012.[3][4]
Reed was born and raised inSt Albans,Hertfordshire, and attendedVerulam School.[5] His family worked atOdhams printing factory inWatford until it closed down in 1983.[6][7] Around this time, he joined theLabour Party. He went on to study English atSheffield University.[7] He started work in the educational publishing industry in 1990, and worked forRoutledge,Thomson Corporation, theLaw Society andSweet & Maxwell.[7][5]
Reed first stood for theLondon Borough of Lambeth in the1998 election and won theTown Hall ward (nowBrixton Acre Lane ward). In2002,Labour lost control ofLambeth Council to aConservative/Liberal Democrat coalition, and Reed was elected leader of the opposition.
After Labour won back control ofLambeth Council in2006, Reed was appointed the council's leader. At the beginning of his tenure, after Labour took political control of the council, Lambeth was rated as London's worst-run borough, with a one-star rating in theAudit Commission's annual inspection in 2006.[8] By 2009 the council had improved to a three-star rating.[9] At the2010 election, Labour gained seats from theLiberal Democrats andConservatives, making it the first time that Labour had been re-elected to lead in Lambeth for twenty years.
Reed held a number of significant positions in local government. He was:
While a member ofLambeth Council, Steve Reed introduced a scheme to "Name and Shame" users of recreational drugs. In an interview with theDaily Mirror recounting this, he stated, "We wanted to send out the signal that, if you think it's acceptable to come and buy drugs here, and leave behind you the trail of destruction the drugs trade causes on our streets, we will do everything we can to stop you and we will let your friends, family and employers know what you've done."[18] He also indicated that a Labour government would be willing to look at implementing this policy nationwide.[19]
In May 2010, Reed launched a consultation on plans to turn Lambeth into the country's first co-operative council[20][21] intending to deliver better services more cost-effectively by giving more control to communities and service users, reported inThe Guardian newspaper as a possible new model for Labour in local government.[22] The final report of Lambeth Council's Cooperative Council Commission[23] laid out the plans for achieving this objective and Lambeth Council put a transformation plan into effect.
Reed was reported to the Standards Board by a Conservative councillor after he disclosed that she was barred from voting on financial matters because of her refusal to pay council tax on one of her properties for several years.[24] This information was legally disclosable and no sanction was imposed.[25]
Reed was named one of the three most influential council leaders in the country by theLocal Government Chronicle in 2011[26] and was the highest-ranked Labour politician in the 2010 Pink List compiled byThe Independent on Sunday.[27]
Reed was appointedOfficer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the2013 Birthday Honours for services to local government.[28]
Reed's first attempt to enter Parliament was in Lambeth, contesting the Labour nomination for theStreatham constituency in 2008, on the retirement ofKeith Hill. In March of that year, Reed was beaten to the nomination byChuka Umunna. On 3 November 2012, Reed defeated former Croydon Council leaderVal Shawcross by three votes[29] to become the Labour candidate forCroydon North.[30] Theby-election followed the death of the former Labour MP for Croydon NorthMalcolm Wicks, and was won by Reed on 29 November 2012.[31]
In October 2013, Reed was appointed a Shadow Home Office Minister by the Labour leaderEd Miliband.[32]
In the2015 general election, Reed was re-elected with 33,513 votes (a 62.5% share, up 6.6% from the previous general election in 2010) and a majority of 21,364 (39.9%) with a 62.3% turnout.[33]
On 27 June 2016, Reed resigned as Shadow Minister for Local Government as part of themass resignation of the Labour Shadow Cabinet againstJeremy Corbyn's leadership of the Labour party.[34][35] He supportedOwen Smith in the2016 Labour leadership election.[36]
In June 2018, Reed attempted to get a bill through Parliament to make hospitals reveal details about how and when they use physical force against patients and provide hospital staff with training about unconscious bias against minority groups such as young black men with mental health problems. Reed referred to the death of his constituent,Olaseni Lewis, aged 23 duringuse of restraint at Bethlem hospital.[37] Afilibuster by Conservative MPPhilip Davies prevented the bill succeeding.[38] Reed's bill was passed on 6 July 2018; it requires that police attending mental hospitals to apply restraints must wear body cameras.[39]
In April 2020,Keir Starmer appointed him shadowSecretary of State for Communities and Local Government.
In July 2020, Reed published a tweet labelling the businessmanRichard Desmond a "puppet-master", said to be an antisemitic trope. He apologised and deleted the tweet after he found out Desmond was Jewish. Jewish Conservative MPAndrew Percy said "Alluding to Jews as puppet-masters is an age old antisemitic trope and for a Shadow Cabinet member to use this trope is totally unacceptable".[40][41] Reed subsequently spoke of his longstanding commitment toLabour Friends of Israel.[42]
In theNovember 2021 shadow cabinet reshuffle, he was appointedShadow Secretary of State for Justice andShadow Lord Chancellor.[43]
On 4 September 2023,Keir Starmer appointed Reed as Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.[44]
He was elected as MP for the new constituency ofStreatham and Croydon North in the2024 general election, and was appointed asSecretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.[45]
During the 2024 general election, Reed stated that a Labour government would oversee "the biggest boost inanimal welfare in a generation", including a ban ontrail hunting,puppy farming, andsnare traps, an end toanimal testing and thebadger cull, and a prohibition on importing food items that violate UK production standards, likefoie gras.[46][47] DuringCommon Veterinary Area negotiations in February 2025, aDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs spokesperson refused to say whether the government remained committed to banning foie gras imports.[47] In July 2025, Reed and Labour were criticized by UK animal campaigners for failing to advance their promised animal welfare policies, while removing protections against chickens being carried by their legs.[48]
When the government'scontroversial changes to farmers' inheritance tax exemption rules were first announced, he claimed that they "would not impact the vast majority of farm businesses".[49] However, a few months later, he acknowledged that even if "no farms were going bust today because of the budget, that could change once the policy takes effect next year."[50]
Reed was appointed Housing Secretary on 5 September 2025, by telephone call from the Prime Minister, while Reed was at home.
The office holder works alongside theother ministers in their department. The correspondingshadow minister is theshadow secretary of state for housing, communities and local government.
Reed is gay,[51] and married his partner in July 2022.[5]
Reed was sworn as a member of thePrivy Council on 10 July 2024, entitling him to be styled "The Right Honourable" for life.[52]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forCroydon North 2012–2024 | Constituency abolished |
| New constituency | Member of Parliament forStreatham and Croydon North 2024–present | Incumbent |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Shadow Minister for Home Affairs 2013–2015 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Shadow Minister for Local Government 2015–2016 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Shadow Minister for Civil Society 2016–2019 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Shadow Minister for Children and Families 2019–2020 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 2020–2021 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Shadow Secretary of State for Justice 2021–2023 | Succeeded by |
| Shadow Lord Chancellor 2021–2023 | ||
| Preceded by | Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 2023–2024 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 2024–2025 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government 2025–present | Incumbent |
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