“Act now to save lives and livelihoods”, Labour demands, in crunch Queens Speech cladding vote
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Labour is today calling on the government to “act now to save lives
and livelihoods” and fix the building safety crisis, by setting a
hard deadline for developers to remove unsafe and combustible
cladding, and carry out all necessary remediation work to make
buildings safe. Labour believes the fire at New Providence Wharf in
London, is a wake-up call, with government delays putting lives at
risk. Labour has tabled an amendment to the Queens Speech which
argues that the...Request free trial
Labour is today calling on the government to “act now to save lives and livelihoods” and fix the building safety crisis, by setting a hard deadline for developers to remove unsafe and combustible cladding, and carry out all necessary remediation work to make buildings safe. Labour believes the fire at New Providence Wharf in London, is a wake-up call, with government delays putting lives at risk. Labour has tabled an amendment to the Queens Speech which argues that the government has failed to put an end to the building safety crisis and instead threatens to make the situation worse for innocent leaseholders by putting the cost of removing unsafe cladding on them. Hundreds of thousands of people at risk from life changing cladding costs and unsellable properties, the Party is calling on the Government to make all homes safe by June 2022; protect leaseholders from the cost of remediation works, and instead pursue those responsible for the building safety scandal for costs. Labour has called for the government to set up a National Cladding Taskforce, to get a grip of this crisis. A new, legally enforceable 2022 deadline to make homes safe is just one of Labour’s demands for safer homes alongside immediate up-front funding to remove deadly cladding and other urgent fire safety work; protection for leaseholders and taxpayers, by pursuing those responsible for the cladding scandal for costs; legislation to protect residents from costs; getting the market moving by ensuring affected residents can sell and re-mortgage and stamping out rogue builders by reforming the sector. In her first speech in Parliament in the role, Shadow Housing Secretary Lucy Powell will argue that after 11 years of failure, the Conservatives have no plan to fix the broken housing market which has led to people living in unsafe, insecure homes. She will say that Ministers’ failure to act on cladding shows they’re putting the interests of their developer donors over innocent homeowners. Lax building regulations, alongside the failure of Conservative governments to build enough affordable homes to rent or buy, has contributed to the housing crisis the country faces with young people and first-time buyers priced out of the housing market, with increasing numbers of families and children in insecure homes. Labour’s new Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, Lucy Powell MP said: “This is the biggest building scandal in modern history, and instead of decisive leadership to solve it, government delays are putting lives at risk. The Conservative Party is putting the interests of their developer donors over innocent homeowners. Ministers have failed to meet targets to assess unsafe buildings and remove cladding, and broken promises that residents will not pay the costs of those responsible for the building safety scandal. “The government must step up and end the waking nightmare for millions of residents trapped in unsafe, unsellable homes. Through no fault of their own, leaseholders’ lives are on hold, faced with crippling costs, with the fear of fire a real and present danger for many.” Ends Notes to editors: On 7th May a fire broke out at New Providence Wharf in Poplar, London, a 19-storey block of flats in east London thought to be covered with the same type of cladding used on Grenfell Tower. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-57022678 Hundreds of thousands of people are still in high rise flats with dangerous cladding and it is estimated up to 1.5 million flats could be left unmortgageable. Labour’s solution to the building safety crisis Labour has called for a new National Cladding Taskforce, to get a grip of this crisis. Modelled on the successful approach taken in Australia, the taskforce would be given strong powers to establish the full extent of dangerous materials on buildings, prioritise them according to risk and ensure there is enforcement against those who refuse to undertake works. The Taskforce would drive forward Labour’s six demands for safer homes:
The cladding scandal is freezing the entire market for flats, with official data showing the sale of flats has halved compared to 2019. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sales-of-flats-halve-as-cladding-crisis-threatens-housing-market-35wrwpbk8 The Government has already retreated from its commitment to implement all recommendations of the Grenfell Inquiry by voting against Labour’s amendment to the Fire Safety Bill, and watering down proposals for the evacuation of people with disabilities from tower blocks. https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/grenfell-survivors-outraged-after-government-votes-down-inquiry-recommendations-amendment-67809 Nearly four years after the Grenfell Tower disaster in June 2017, government inaction has left millions at risk and financially worse off:
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