Luke Hall named education minister after Halfon resignation

Luke Hall has been appointed a minister in the UK’s Department for Education following the resignation of Robert Halfon as higher education minister.

Mr Hall’s ministerial brief was yet to be officially confirmed at the time of writing but, barring a reshuffle of portfolios, he would be expected to take on the skills, apprenticeships and higher education remit vacated by Mr Halfon.

Mr Hall, the MP for the south Gloucestershire seat of Thornbury and Yate, was moved by prime minister Rishi Sunak from his second term as deputy chair of the Conservative Party.

He previously held a series of junior ministerial posts in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government under Boris Johnson’s premiership.

Mr Hall went straight into employment at age 18, working in retail before entering parliament in 2015.

He becomes the ninth higher education minister to serve in the UK government in the last 10 years and the first for two decades – since Labour’s Alan Johnson – to have not studied at university.

Earlier, Mr Halfon had submitted his resignation from the government and announced he would step down as a Tory MP at the next general election, joining more than 60 fellow Conservative parliamentarians in announcing their departure from the House of Commons ahead of a poll that the party is expected to lose heavily.

He had overseen English universities since November 2022, using his tenure to push his passion for degree apprenticeships on the sector.

chris.havergal@timeshighereducation.com