A CONSERVATIVE MP has resigned from his role as Government minister citing “personal reasons”.

Simon Clarke, the MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, announced his resignation from his role in Government today.

On a post on Twitter Mr Clarke said he had decided to step down for personal reasons and had posted a resignation letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

It said: “I am writing this letter to resign from Government.

“My decision has been prompted by purely personal reasons; like all of us, I have had to balance my own life against the demands of office.

“I would not have made the decision unless I believed that it was of the utmost importance.

“It has been a privilege to serve as a minister in your administration, first at the Treasury and since February at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. It is an enormous honour to hold ministerial office at any time, but all the more so to have had the chance to do so at the request of the Prime Minister I admire very deeply and to deliver an agenda in which I believe passionately.

“You know how strongly I support you, and how delighted I was that you secured such a strong mandate in December to deliver our exit from the European Union and honour the vision of millions of people who felt betrayed and forgotten. The work of building a better a better and fairer country as the UK reassumes our full sovereignty is as exciting as it is significant.”

The website Guido Fawkes reported that MP Luke Hall will replace Mr Clarke, while minister Kelly Tolhurst moves from the Transport to Local Government, with Robert Courts being appointed a minister at Transport.

The letter continued: “When you appointed me as the Minister for Regional Growth and Local Government earlier this year, you spoke about the importance of your Government’s work to level up opportunity across the UK. It is the foundation of my Conservatism that a person’s life chances should not be determined by the place or circumstances of their birth, and this has been a challenge I have relished.

“It is typical of the ambition and generosity of our own political and philosophical outlook that you have given this agenda such significance, and there is so much to be excited about - from the Towns Fund to freeports to the further development of devolution. Nothing could be more important for communities like the one I am fortunate enough to represent in Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, and for so many other places across the country that have been overlooked for too long.

“I hope that in time, I might have the opportunity to serve in your Government again.”