Mike Amesbury responds to the Government's Building Safety announcement

Mike Amesbury MP, Labour’s Shadow Housing and Planning Minister, responding to the Government’s Building Safety announcement, said:

“Having spent months insisting it will provide no support to leaseholders, the Government has finally u-turned under pressure from campaigners and Labour.

“The top priority must be ensuring people are safe in their homes. While funding for temporary fire alarms is welcome, it shows that the Government expects that many buildings won’t be made safe for some years.

“The only way to make people safe is to fix their homes. The Government must urgently get a grip of the number of dangerous buildings that are out there, and prioritise and accelerate the pace of remediation.”

Ends

Notes to editors

• The Building Safety announcement: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-30-million-waking-watch-relief-fund-announced
• Published alongside this announcement was a Ministerial Direction: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/945368/AO_Direction_Fire_Alarms_Waking_Watch_-_Letter_Perm_Sec_to_SofS.pdf
• This direction identifies how the top civil servant in the department thinks the Government’s approach has been totally mismanaged and does not represent value for money. The need for waking watch funding is a product of Government chaotic management of the Building Safety Fund, which the Government has been slow to process. The deadline for the Fund has now been extended to acknowledge this.
• The most important priority is to remediate buildings with fire safety defects, but given leaseholders may spend years in unsafe homes, paying eye-watering costs for waking watch, the support today is welcome.