The #CladdingScandal is a story of broken Tory promises, pushing thousands into financial hardship and paralysing part of the housing market. As the #FireSafetyBill comes back to the Commons, here is a refresher of just a few of the government's broken promises so far (THREAD).
Why does this matter? There are hundreds of thousands of leaseholders in the UK still living in buildings with unsafe cladding and other fire safety issues, almost four years after the Grenfell Tower disaster.
Today, MPs will vote on an amendment which would legally protect leaseholders from the costs of a problem they did not cause. Legal protection is extremely important - on the evidence below, it is clear leaseholders need more than Tory promises.
Promise #1: The Government promised to remove all Grenfell-style ACM (Aluminium Composite Material) cladding from buildings over 18 metres tall “by June 2020”.
Reality: As of the end of February 2021, a quarter of these buildings (26%) still had ACM cladding. assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upl…
Promise #2: Government ministers repeatedly promised that “leaseholders will not be left with the bill” to make buildings safe. Here's the Prime Minister less than two months ago:
Reality: This position has now been abandoned. The latest is that funding will not cover buildings below 18m tall. Leaseholders in these buildings will be forced to take up loans to remove cladding. And neither grants nor loans will be available for non-cladding fire risks.
Promise #3: Ministers promised there would be more detail on the funding scheme for buildings with dangerous cladding in the 2021 budget. hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2021-0…
Reality: Cladding was not mentioned once by the Chancellor, or in any of the accompanying budget documents, raising fears that the £3.5 billion funding might not materialise.
Promise #4: In March 2020, the Chancellor promised £1bn to fix dangerous cladding in high-rise blocks.
Reality: A year later, only £226m has been allocated, £68m of which is for ‘pre-tender support allocations’, so won’t go towards remediation itself. assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upl…
Promise #5: In February 2021, the government promised £3.5 billion to fix fire safety problems in buildings over 18 metres tall.
Reality: If there are other fire defects beyond cladding, leaseholders will have to pay to have these fixed. And if they cannot afford to fix these defects, then they will not be able to access the funding to remove dangerous cladding. dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9…
Promise #6: The Government promised in 2019 to audit buildings over 18m which may have dangerous cladding on them, and in summer 2020 to audit buildings between 11 and 18m. nao.org.uk/wp-content/upl…
Reality: Neither audit has been published. As of January 2020, 2/3 of local authorities hadn’t been audited. The Government hasn’t started the full audit of buildings between 11 and 18m. insidehousing.co.uk/insight/insigh…
Promise #7: In December the Government promised to “end the scandal of excessive waking watch costs” gov.uk/government/new…
Reality: The funding was too late for many - some leaseholders had already paid £500k on #WakingWatch, at least one 1st time buyer had gone bankrupt. And the funding will only cover half of buildings currently with waking watch in place. bbc.co.uk/news/uk-552196…
Promise #8: The Government promised to get the market for flats moving by reforming the EWS1 process. gov.uk/government/new…
Reality: Mortgage lenders quoted in MHCLG’s press release came out to say they “did not consent” to the announcement, suggesting that many lenders will still require the EWS1 form which has deadlocked part of the housing market. bbc.co.uk/news/uk-550303…
IN SUMMARY: The Conservatives cannot be trusted on #cladding. I have written to 77 Tory MPs with affected buildings in their constituencies to ask them to act on behalf of their constituents today - and put these protections into law. standard.co.uk/news/uk/mps-go…
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