Government Manage To Lose Housing Minister

Government Reshuffle Does Away With

Housing Minister Position

Mark Prisk, the (now former) Government Housing Minister and Conservative MP for Hertford and Stortford, lost his Government position after the cabinet reshuffle last Monday.

New Under Secretary of State – Kris Hopkins will be responsible for Housing

Housing will now be part of Conservative MP for Keighley, Kris Hopkins responsibility as he steps into a new Government role as Under Secretary of State, rather than Housing Minister and he will be deputy to the Secretary of State.

Mr Hopkins is another former leader of Bradford Council, like his ministerial counterpart, Eric Pickles.

News of the ministerial reshuffle was broken last week via the Government’s Twitter site and also by Mark Prisk himself via Twitter, however on the Conservative Party website it was alleged that Mr Prisk had been asked to step aside due to his reluctance to undertake media interviews rather than his actual work.

Government Manage To Lose Housing Minister

The Conservative MP tweeted “Been asked to step aside for Housing for a younger generation. Disappointing but its been a great eleven years on frontbencher”

Reflecting on the property market recently, the Hertford and Stortford MP commented: “As a Government we have worked hard and prioritised limited financial resources to help the housing market through one of its toughest times and create the right conditions for it to flourish.”

Mr Prisk inherited the Housing Ministers job from Grant Shapps, who was promoted to Conservative Party Chairman, in September 2012. His previous roles included working on the Government’s Construction Strategy at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Richard Lambert, Chief Executive Officer of the National Landlords Association (NLA), commented on the cabinet reshuffle stating: “The NLA is pleased to welcome Kris Hopkins as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State. We hope the incoming minister will take a proactive and holistic approach to addressing the issues facing the housing sector exacerbated by the shortage of housing supply. However, it is extremely disappointing to see the Coalition reduce the significance of housing within Government. Given the significant challenges facing households throughout the country it is essential that housing takes centre stage in political debate. We hope the apparent demotion of the housing portfolio from Minister of State to Under-Secretary of State does not reflect a change in priorities from the Government ahead of the General Election in 2015.”