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Matthew Pennycook

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Matthew Pennycook
MP
Official portrait, 2020
Minister of State for Housing and Planning
Incumbent
Assumed office
6 July 2024
Prime MinisterKeir Starmer
Preceded byFelicity Buchan (Housing)
Lee Rowley (Planning)
2021–2024Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
2020–2021Climate Change
2016–2019Exiting the EU
Member of Parliament
for Greenwich and Woolwich
Incumbent
Assumed office
7 May 2015
Preceded byNick Raynsford
Majority18,366 (43.0%)
Personal details
Born
Matthew Thomas Pennycook

(1982-10-29) 29 October 1982 (age 42)
Hammersmith, London, England
Political partyLabour
Alma materLondon School of Economics (BA)
Balliol College, Oxford (MPhil)
Websitematthewpennycook.com

Matthew Thomas Pennycook (born 29 October 1982) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Greenwich and Woolwich since 2015.[1] He has served as Minister of State for Housing and Planning since July 2024.[2][3]

Early life and education

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Matthew Pennycook was born on 29 October 1982 in Hammersmith,[4][5] and was raised in a single-parent family in South London. He was educated at Beverley Boys Secondary School, a comprehensive school in New Malden, London. He joined the Labour Party at the age of nineteen.[6]

Pennycook studied History and International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science, graduating with a first-class Bachelor 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 attend Balliol College, Oxford, studying for a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) degree in International Relations.

Political career

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While still a student, he volunteered with the Child Poverty Action Group and worked with then-Chief Executive, Kate Green, who 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 the Resolution 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 MP Karen Buck.

Pennycook was a Labour councillor for Greenwich 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 for The Guardian about the need for a living wage in the UK and has served on the Living Wage Foundation's advisory board.[9]

Parliamentary career

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In November 2013, he was selected as the official Labour Party candidate for Greenwich and Woolwich,[10] as the sitting MP, Nick Raynsford was retiring.

At the 2015 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 his maiden speech in the House of Commons during a debate on the economy on 4 June 2015.[13]

In the leadership election following Labour's defeat at the 2015 general election, Pennycook endorsed Yvette Cooper and for the deputy leadership endorsed Tom Watson. He supported Sadiq Khan in the campaign for selection of the candidate for the 2016 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 backed Owen Smith in his unsuccessful Labour Party leadership campaign to replace Jeremy Corbyn in September 2016.[14]

Pennycook campaigned in favour of a "Remain" vote for the 2016 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 for Brexit in October 2016,[17] and, in accordance with the Labour Party whip, voted for the Bill to trigger Article 50.[18]

At the snap 2017 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. He stated in an interview that "The crisis in teacher retention in London did not begin the day before yesterday, yet this Tory government still has no coherent plan to address the problem and no appetite to get to grips with the underlying drivers – workload, stagnant pay, rising living costs and a lack of genuinely affordable housing to rent and buy – that lie behind this worrying trend."[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 the 2019 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]

Pennycook returned to the Opposition frontbench as Shadow Minister for Climate Change, following Keir Starmer's victory in the 2020 Labour Party leadership election.[26] In the December 2021 frontbench reshuffle, he 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 planned high rises.[28]

In March 2022, Pennycock argued that housing supply is not a "panacea for affordability".[29]

At the 2024 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.[30]

On 6 July 2024, he was appointed as Minister of State at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (until 8 July 2024, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities), working under Secretary of State Angela Rayner.[31][32] Unlike some previous housing 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]

Personal life

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Pennycook is married to civil servant Joanna Otterburn and they have two children.[34]

References

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  1. ^ "Greenwich & Woolwich parliamentary constituency – Election 2015". BBC News. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  2. ^ "Ministerial Appointments: July 2024". GOV.UK. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
  3. ^ "Minister of State (Minister for Housing and Planning) - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
  4. ^ "No. 61961". The London Gazette. 19 June 2017. p. 11776.
  5. ^ a b "Pennycook, Matthew Thomas". Who's Who 2018. Oxford University Press. 1 December 2017. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.283983.
  6. ^ "Matthew Pennycook – The Labour Party". Labour.org.uk. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  7. ^ "About LSE" (PDF).
  8. ^ "Pennycook resigns as councillor ahead of General Election". 16 March 2015.
  9. ^ "Matthew Pennycook". The Guardian. 20 July 2011. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  10. ^ "Matthew Pennycook".
  11. ^ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  12. ^ "Results of 2015 elections". Royal Borough of Greenwich. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
  13. ^ "House of Commons Hansard Debates for 04 Jun 2015 (pt 0003)". www.publications.parliament.uk. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  14. ^ "Full list of MPs and MEPs backing challenger Owen Smith | LabourList". LabourList | Labour's biggest independent grassroots e-network. 21 July 2016. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  15. ^ "EU vote: Where the cabinet and other MPS stand". BBC News. 22 June 2016.
  16. ^ Rosenbaum, Martin (6 February 2017). "Local voting figures shed new light on EU referendum". BBC News.
  17. ^ "Labour's Shadow Frontbench appointments". Labour Press. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  18. ^ "Votes on motion "That the Bill be now read the Third time"". Hansard. 8 February 2017. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  19. ^ "Greenwich & Woolwich parliamentary constituency". BBC News.
  20. ^ "Commons Briefing Paper 7979. General Election 2017: results and analysis" (PDF) (Second ed.). House of Commons Library. 29 January 2019 [7 April 2018]. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 November 2019.
  21. ^ Teacher crisis hits London as nearly half quit within five years The Guardian. 4 October 2018
  22. ^ "Shadow Brexit Minister quits to 'focus efforts' on Remain campaigning". Evening Standard. 25 September 2019. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
  23. ^ "Greenwich & Woolwich Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
  24. ^ "Greenwich & Woolwich Parliamentary constituency". Greenwich Council. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  25. ^ "Commons Briefing Paper 8749. General Election 2019: results and analysis" (PDF). London: House of Commons Library. 28 January 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 November 2021. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
  26. ^ Rodgers, Sienna (9 April 2020). "Shadow ministers appointed as Starmer completes frontbench". LabourList. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  27. ^ Rodgers, Sienna (4 December 2021). "Keir Starmer unveils new frontbench team after wider reshuffle". LabourList. Retrieved 9 December 2021.
  28. ^ "London MP opposes 1,500-home development over tower height concerns". Inside Housing. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
  29. ^ Ball, James (15 October 2023). "Could Labour's past NIMBY moments come back to haunt them?". The New European.
  30. ^ Huggett, Poppy (5 July 2024). "General Election 2024: Labour hold Greenwich and Woolwich". News Shopper. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
  31. ^ Riding, James (5 July 2024). "Rayner appointed DLUHC secretary and Pennycook given housing brief". Inside Housing. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
  32. ^ "Matthew Pennycook appointed as Labour's Housing Minister". Property118.com. 8 July 2024. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
  33. ^ Lewis, Nigel (7 July 2024). "'Experienced' Pennycook appointed as Housing Minister". The Negotiator. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
  34. ^ "Erith & Thamesmead MP Teresa Pearce thanks family in Commons farewell". 6 November 2019.
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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for Greenwich and Woolwich
2015–present 		Incumbent
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