Baroness Taylor of Stevenage has been appointed to Labour's frontbench team in the House of Lords.

As a shadow spokesperson, she will speak for the party on issues related to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC).

According to parliament's website, Baroness Taylor was also appointed as an opposition whip on January 9.

She stepped down as leader of Stevenage Borough Council at the end of December.

Speaking from the frontbench for the first time yesterday (January 12), Baroness Taylor questioned Baroness Scott, who is under-secretary of state at DLUHC:

She said: "As a serving councillor, I deal with cases of homelessness every day. The number is increasing every day because of eviction from private tenancies and/or the affordability of those tenancies, and fewer landlords coming forward.

"With social housing waiting lists now at over 1 million due to decades of underinvestment in social housing and an annual loss of 24,000 social homes a year due to demolition and sales under the right to buy, what are the Government going to do to address the housing emergency?"

Responding, Baroness Scott said: "The government are doing many things. When the renters reform bill comes through — it was a Conservative Party manifesto commitment — it will look at these issues, particularly in the private rented sector.

"However, this is a much bigger issue across all sectors, as the noble Baroness said. We are doing an enormous amount, as I have said and am not repeating, and will continue to do so.

"I think that an important thing that will come out in the renters reform bill is that we will remove Section 21 evictions."