Key architect of evictions ban and Solicitor General Alex Chalk quits Government

The Solicitor General, MP Alex Chalk, has resigned from the Government following last night’s departure announcements from Rishi Sunak and Savid Javid.

Chalk may not be a household name like the now former Chancellor and Health secretary, but he was one of the key players in lining up the multiple eviction bans that made life difficult for thousands of landlords with rent arrear tenants during the pandemic.

Chalk was a key player in getting the Public Health (Coronavirus) (Protection from Eviction) (England) (No. 2) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 (S.I. 2021, No. 362) through parliament.

Although called the Solicitor General, Chalk is in effect the Attorney General Suella Braverman’s right hand man, which will be all the more awkward for her as she’s a key Johnson loyalist.

Cumulative effect

In a resignation letter to Boris Johnson this morning, Chalk – who is MP for Cheltenham – said “the cumulative effect of the Owen Paterson debacle, Partygate and now the handling of now former Deputy Chief Whip’s resignations [Chris Pincher] is that public confidence in the ability of No.10 to uphold the standards of candour expected of a British Government”.

Back in March 2020, when the government brought in its first evictions ban, Chalk released a statement saying that he was ‘for renters’ and that “as a result of these measures, I’m confident that no renters in private or social accommodation need to be concerned about the threat of eviction”.

But as LandlordZONE reported on many occasions during the pandemic, landlords who had tenants deliberately seeking to avoid paying rent for their own financial benefit were caught up in the rules surrounding the evictions ban, which prevented them from evicting such tenants under any circumstances.