One never really knows what goes on behind closed Cabinet doors but clearly the speed of the former Housing Minister’s exit is an illustration of the Governments desire to put the ‘mojo’ back into housing.
By all accounts Mr Prisk was doing a reasonable job but the high command thought that this was not good enough. Perhaps they are right.
Criticism of Mr Prisk appears to stem from his shyness in the media that, after all, is an essential part of the communication process. With the next election looming housing will be a very important matter and perhaps the new recruit, despite the demoted position, could pursue new initiatives.
Housing is after all one of the most important aspects of the government’s political initiatives as illustrated by the acceleration of the Help-to-Buy Scheme in order to assist buyers at the lower levels of the housing market.
The government need to go a great deal further in reforming the planning process that is still riddled with political influences that have absolutely nothing to do with planning.
Maybe the first task of the new housing minister, Kris Hopkins, should be to wrestle free the entire planning system and let the Department of the Environment, via their planning inspectorates, get the system working again as it should be in an ‘A’ political fashion.