The UK's Prime Minister Lizz Truss has named Simon Clarke as her Levelling Up, Housing and Communities secretary of state following her confirmation as Prime Minster.

Truss, who won 57.4% of the Conservative Party membership vote to get the job, had previously been rumoured to have picked Jacob Rees-Mogg for the role, but he has now been confirmed as the business secretary at BEIS.

Clarke, who worked under Rishi Sunak at HM Treasury as the department's chief secretary, is one of the original '�Red Wall' MPs after winning the former Labour seat of Middlesborough South and East Cleveland in MP in 2017.

The 37-year-old has some housing credentials having worked at what used to be the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government for seven months in 2020 '� although his voting record in parliament reveals he has not been engaged directly in or spoken during debates for the most prominent housing bills and issues.

Clarke got the job for his loyalty rather than his knowledge of the private rented sector '� just three days ago he publicly backed her bid saying Truss would 'help struggling families and turbocharge the economy'�.

His appointment makes Clarke the sixth secretary of state since housing was added to the department's title in 2018 and follows his predecessor, Greg Clarke, having been in post for just nine weeks.

The junior minister line-up at DLUHC remains the same for housing at the moment - the great survivor Eddie Hughes, who kept his head down during the leadership race, remains, as does Marcus Jones.

Industry reaction

Ben Beadle (pictured), Chief Executive of the National Residential Landlords Association, 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.'�

Nathan Emerson (pictured), letting agency trade body Propertymark's Chief Executive, says: 'We congratulate Liz Truss on her successful election campaign and urge her to work with property professionals to find solutions to these major issues facing the sector. 

'Our latest market insight reports show for every rental property available there are an average of 11 applicants, while home buyers outnumber sellers by seven to one.

'This is creating affordability issues, particularly in the private rented sector.

'We believe that gap can be closed through measures that bring the many tens of thousands of long-term empty properties back and the introduction of focussed targets for new homes that are based on an identified need for each tenure across the country.'�