Simon Clarke MP named new Housing Secretary

Simon Clarke MP (pictured, right) has been appointed as Secretary of State for Housing at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (DLUHC) this week, following a cabinet reshuffle by new Prime Minister Liz Truss. He replaces Greg Clark MP in the role.

Mr Clarke is the Member of Parliament for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, a seat he has held since 2017.

Prior to taking up his new role of Housing Secretary, Simon Clarke was Chief Secretary to the Treasury, appointed in 2021. Mr Clarke has also held the position of Minister for Regional Growth and Local Government and Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury.

Hailing from North Teesside, Simon Clarke started his career as a solicitor, going on to work as a parliamentary assistant to two MPs; Dominic Raab and Graham Stuart.

He first stood for Parliament at the 2015 general election, finishing third behind the Labour and UKIP candidates.

                      Pictured: Simon Clarke MP

For the snap election in 2017, Simon Clarke was selected as the Conservative candidate for the constituency of Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland. He took the seat from Labour securing a majority of 1,020. He increased his majority to over 11,000 at the last general election.

Views on housing

In 2021, Mr Clarke said that a “good home of their own [is] what millions of people rightly yearn for”. He argued that planning reforms were vital if the Government was to deliver the number of homes required where they are most needed. He also said it was important for the Government to see supply as the main problem for the housing crisis and said that Ministers needed to focus on sensible solutions to the planning system.

In 2017, he spoke about the Government’s action to improve the welfare system. He gave the creation of the landlord portal, alternative payment methods and advance payments as examples of this. He is strongly supportive of universal credit, insisting that it is a needed upgrade of the benefits system, and has decried Labour’s “scaremongering” about the benefit.

Responding to the news on Simon Clarke's appointment, Ben Beadle, NRLA CEO said:

“The NRLA welcomes Simon Clarke’s appointment as Housing Secretary.

“The new Minister will need urgently to address the rental housing supply crisis. Damaging tax hikes and uncertainty over reforms to the private rented sector are leading many landlords to leave the market when demand for rented homes remains high. All this is doing is increasing rents, making it more difficult for those wanting to become homeowners.

“The Government needs to look afresh at the rental reform White Paper to ensure the plans in it have the confidence of responsible landlords.  This needs to include action to tackle anti-social tenants, scrapping plans that would damage the student housing market, and reforming the courts to ensure legitimate possession cases are dealt with more swiftly.”

Mr Clarke can be followed on Twitter here: @SimonClarkeMP