Former banker announced as housing minister

He has also served as a member of the Commons Treasury select committee, a member of the Commons Science and Technology select committee, a Parliamentary Private Secretary at the Treasury and from 2012 to 2015 as a Conservative Party Vice Chairman.

Mr Sharma tweeted: ‘Honoured to be appointed Minister of State for Housing & Planning to work on building the homes #Britain needs @CommunitiesUK’

The new minister was previously the PM’s infrastructure envoy to India and served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Rt Hon Oliver Letwin MP, who had overall responsibility for the Cabinet Office.

David Orr, chief executive at the National Housing Federation, said: ‘The federation has had a strong track record of working with his department. Housing needs to remain a priority for the next government and we will continue to position the sector as constructive and vital partners.

‘Housing associations started building nearly 48,000 homes in 2016/17, an increase of 13% on 2015/16. Having shown they can deliver at times of instability and uncertainty, they remain ambitious and are working towards delivering 120,000 homes a year.’

Terrie Alafat, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing, said: ‘The Conservative manifesto rightly recognised that we need an ambitious long-term plan to tackle our national housing crisis.

‘We at CIH, along with housing professionals across the country, are ready to work with Mr Sharma on developing that plan and putting it into practice.’

Meanwhile, Sajid Javid was reappointed secretary of state for communities and local government, while David Gauke was appointed work and pensions secretary.