Construction minister tells CLC event she’s in post for ‘rest of year’ – hours before being moved on

Construction minister Nus Ghani has been moved to a new role in government just hours after telling a CLC event she was in post for the rest of the year.

Ghani was speaking at the launch of the group’s bi-annual report yesterday morning at the ICE in central London, where she told dozens of guests: “I look forward to continuing to work for you for the rest of the year, being [construction’s] champion across Whitehall.”

When she was appointed in November 2022, she was the fourth minister that year and yesterday admitted the constant chopping and changing of ministers was no good for the industry: “It’s been pretty interesting at the top [of government], which means that policies can change when ministers change which isn’t helpful at all for the sector which has to invest in the long term.”

Hours later she was moved to become minister for Europe in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in a mini-reshuffle prompted by the resignations of two junior ministers earlier in the day.

Kevin Hollinrake is promoted to minister of state in the Department for Business and Trade but keeps his responsibility for postal affairs while Alan Mak becomes parliamentary under secretary of state jointly in the Department for Business and Trade and the Cabinet Office.

In her last speech as construction minister, Ghani praised efforts to improve productivity and added: “Your efforts to increase productivity in the sector will set out opportunities to save more than £45bn a year. That’s a major challenge for industry to deal with issues on productivity, not just for the construction sector.

“We need major construction projects to help the economy move forward. There’s no denying how important this sector is.”