Rushanara Ali quits after reports of £4000 rent hike for tenants
But she added: 'It is clear that continuing in my role will be a distraction from the ambitious work of the Government.
'I have therefore decided to resign from my ministerial position.'
READ MORE: Ross Greer demands action on Scottish Israel boycott plan
It emerged that Ali had "evicted tenants" from her property in London, before re-listing the address after increasing the rent by "£700 a month".
In response, the Prime Minister thanked Ali for her 'diligent work' at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, saying it would have 'a lasting impact'.
He said: 'I know you will continue to support the Government from the backbenches and represent the best interests of your constituents in Bethnal Green and Stepney.'
Ali's resignation follows reports in The i Paper that she had given four tenants at a property she owned in east London four months' notice to leave last November, and had then re-listed the property with a £700 rent increase within weeks.
Conservative Party chairman Kevin Hollinrake had called for her resignation earlier on Thursday, accusing her of 'staggering hypocrisy'.
The SNP also demanded that Starmer sack Ali "immediately" after the reports emerged.
Ali kicked out four tenants from her townhouse near the Olympic Park before re-advertising the same four-bedroom property at an increased price, from £3300 to £4000.
Tenant Laura Jackson, a self-employed restaurant owner and one of four people who rented the property, told the paper: 'It's an absolute joke. Trying to get that much money from renters is extortion'.
At the time of ending the tenants' contract, the firms which managed the property also attempted to charge Ali's tenants nearly £2000 for the house to be repainted and £395 for professional cleaning.
READ MORE: John Swinney to consider imposing state boycott on Israel
Under the Tenant Fees Act 2019, landlords are prohibited from charging their tenants for professional cleaning, and are prohibited from charging tenants to repaint a home unless serious damage has occurred.
The MP for Bethnal Green and Stepney has previously been vocal on renters' rights and has spoken out against 'private renters being exploited".
Under Labour's Renters' Rights Bill, the UK Government plans to bring the private rented sector within the minimum standard set for social housing, and would ban landlords who end a tenancy to sell a property from re-listing it for six months.
SNP Westminster leader Pete Wishart said that Ali should have resigned "immediately" when the reports emerged.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Record
10 minutes ago
- Daily Record
Nicola Sturgeon opens up on suffering miscarriage and reveals 'I always felt it was a girl'
Nicola Sturgeon opens up on suffering miscarriage and reveals 'I always felt it was a girl' The former first minister admitted she still carried a "sense of guilt" following her miscarriage as she felt "conflicted about the pregnancy". Nicola Sturgeon was speaking with ITV News (Image: ITV News) Nicola Sturgeon has spoken in emotional detail about the miscarriage she suffered at the age of 40 in 2010. Speaking on a primetime ITV News interview tonight, the former first minister admitted she still carried a "sense of guilt" following her miscarriage as she had felt "conflicted about the pregnancy". Sturgeon, who was then serving as deputy first minister, suffered a miscarriage on December 30, 2010 and spent the morning of Hogmanay at the early pregnancy clinic at Glasgow Royal Infirmary with her husband Peter Murrell. Speaking to ITV News presenter Julie Etchingham, the ex-SNP leader said: "To this day and possibly forever, I carry a sense of guilt that I miscarried the baby because I had been conflicted about the pregnancy. It was very close to the 2011 Scottish election, the SNP would be going for reelection. "I would've been six months pregnant at the time. Will I be able to cope? "I still carry a bit of that guilt. If I had been genuinely happy with the pregnancy, if I genuinely wanted it unequivocally and unambiguously, if I hadn't had all those moments of wishing I hadn't been pregnant, would I, would the miscarriage not have happened? "Was that my punishment for not, and it's totally irrational. I get how irrational that is." The MSP, who stands from Holyrood next year, continued: "I was in the toilet. And I'm not gonna get into the graphic detail, buteffectively, and I've heard other women describe it like this as well, I, I managed to call Peter through, and effectively we flushed what would've become our child down the toilet." Etchingham responded: "You vividly imagined this baby that you lost, who she was. Just tell me that bit that you wrote about her? Sturgeon added: 'I always felt it was a girl. I can see her in my mind's eye. Dark hair, dark eyes. "She'll be 14 now. Um, so it's, it is a bizarre thing for somebody who I've never had that overwhelming maternal yearning. "I don't feel incomplete because I don't have a child. And yet that little girl, I can totally conjure up in my mind and still feel, feel a sense of loss over her and guilt. She's a part of, of my story." Article continues below
The Herald Scotland
14 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
Nicola Sturgeon memoir reveals letters from Donald Trump
In 2019, a judge ruled Trump International Golf Club Scotland Ltd had to pay the legal bills incurred by the Scottish Government following his unsuccessful challenge. Ms Sturgeon has never met the US President – a fact she said she is not 'unhappy about'. Following the dispute over wind farms, the now-President also sent Ms Sturgeon cuttings of newspaper articles about the 'evils of wind power' around 2018 while building his Aberdeenshire golf course. She said he had underlined passages, writing 'CRAZY!!!!' in 'all thick black Sharpie'. While Ms Sturgeon has not met Trump, she said she received a 'green ink' letter – a term used to describe eccentric views. Read more: Nicola Sturgeon memoir: Why former first minister cried for Boris Johnson 'I hated it': Sturgeon on the SNP's #ImWithNicola branding He had taken 'umbrage' to a proposed offshore windfarm amid fears it would ruin the view from his Aberdeenshire golf course. 'He sent me cuttings of newspaper articles about the evils of wind power,' she writes. 'He underlined passages and scrawled single words followed by multiple exclamation marks in the margins – 'CRAZY!!!!' for example, all in thick black Sharpie.' Later, Ms Sturgeon had a phone call with Trump ahead of his first inauguration in January 2017. Ms Sturgeon was in her constituency office in Govanhill for the phone call and described the exchange ranking 'amongst the most absurd of my entire time in office'. She said she felt she had to 'say her piece' immediately and emphasised the need for the 'longstanding' relationship between Scotland and the US continue. But she also condemned some of the rhetoric used during his presidential campaign and said she hoped policies like a Muslim ban would not be part of his administration. She also asked about his Scottish businesses. 'I doubt he heard a single world,' she said. The President then launched into a 'monologue', according to the former first minister. Paraphrasing the President, she said he asked whether Ms Sturgeon was aware he was Scottish on his mother's side, before describing Scotland as having a 'mad obsession' with wind farms. 'Had I noticed what had happened to the US economy since his election?' she writes. 'No President had ever created since a strong economy and he wasn't even in office yet. His popularity ratings were soaring too. It was unprecedented. And his sons? Did I know he had the smartest sons any father had ever had? And so it went on.' Ms Sturgeon then said: 'When the call ended, I wondered if I had just woken from a very bad acid dream.' A few minutes after that call, Ms Sturgeon's chief of staff, Liz Lloyd received a call from President Trump's national security adviser General Mike Flynn. He was calling to 'ask Liz if it was true that the President-elect had just spoken to the First Minister, and if so, could she tell him what had been discussed? It seemed that he had known nothing about it.' The bizarre exchange comes as the President made a parting dig at Ms Sturgeon following his visit to Scotland last moth. He praised John Swinney but said he did not "have a lot of respect" for the "woman that preceded him", adding that she was a "terrible first minister".
The National
17 minutes ago
- The National
Listen to Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch. You'll hear Nigel Farage
The meaning was clear. Thatcher had shifted the conversation in UK politics to such an extent that the left-wing Labour Party of Clement Atlee and Nye Bevan simply could not exist in the mainstream of the 21st century. The Conservatives' 'opponents' under Blair reflected Thatcher's own politics more than they did their own predecessors. READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon predicts that UK will 'no longer exist' in 20 years This was proven true when Jeremy Corbyn won leadership of the party – only to find that the same socialist policies that MPs like Wes Streeting gloat about as Labour achievements are now utterly unpalatable to them. But while that shift is now baked in stone, another is happening before our eyes. The entirety of UK politics is being dragged ever further to the right, with Nigel Farage steering the tow. We could look at the now-commonplace far-right-backed protests against immigration south of the Border. Or we could look at a media all too willing to excuse them. Take the BBC, for example, who opened their report on the growing pattern with a quote saying: "We fear for our children. If that makes me far-right then so be it." Or take Sky News, who used a picture of a Reform councillor holding a sign saying: 'I'm not far right. I'm worried about my kids.' (Image: Sussex News and Pictures) This nebulous 'fear for children' appears again and again – without any mention of children barricaded inside hotels due to violent anti-immigration protests outside, of course, let alone those radicalised into actually joining the protests. As excuses are made for the rhetoric, it continues to worsen. And as it worsens, it spreads. Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, has posted on Twitter three times in the last 24 hours. Every post includes some variation on the words: 'If you're an immigrant, I will deport you.' Some go further, and appear to threaten tourists as well. If you come to this country illegally, you will face detention and return. If you come to this country and commit a crime, we will deport you as soon as possible. — Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) August 11, 2025 Before that, Starmer was threatening delivery riders 'working illegally" with arrest. Before that, it was people arriving on small boats. Before that, he wrote: 'No gimmicks, just results. If you break the law to enter this country, you will face being sent back.' These messages aren't for the people actually coming to the UK. They are meant to be read by the far-right activists that populate Twitter. And Tory leader Kemi Badenoch is going even further. Not content with deportations, she has said she would consider placing people into camps so that they do not bring 'hassle into communities'. These are the extremist mutterings of a far-right activist, not the serious policy proposals of a Conservative leader. And they are normalised to the point that no one is even really batting an eye. The UK is not heading into a rabbit hole, we are already so far down it that the world of 2007 seems like a foreign land. If you can remember back then, Tory candidate Nigel Hastilow was reprimanded by his own party leadership for writing that Enoch Powell 'was right'. In 2025, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is dropping not-very-subtle references to Powell apparently of his own (speechwriter's) volition. In the not-too-distant future, if you hear Nigel Farage asked to name his greatest achievement, don't be surprised if the reply comes: 'Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch.'
