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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More from @ThangamMP

31 Oct 20
This morning's updated #Covid news will sobering. We need urgent action but also we didn't need to be here.
Weeks ago, Labour leader Keir saw the evidence and called for a short circuit breaker over half term to fix testing etc.
- Johnson ridiculed it
- Sunak blocked it.
2.
Now we face a much harder lockdown
- this Tory Govt were too slow to act, on health or on jobs
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3. It is desperately sad. So many people are going to suffer more. The consequences of this were always going to be tough but the extent of how bad a situation we are in now was both predictable and predicted.
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30 Oct 20
Posting to reiterate my strong support for Labour's call on govt to implement circuit breakers with targetted financial support to prevent hardship and loss of jobs, rapid improvement to test&trace, better comms and more. Govt is refusing to heed call from own scientific advisors
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Please all follow the guidance- lives and livelihoods at stake
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9 May 20
THREAD: 1. People in private rented homes are struggling and govt must act. government has paused evictions for three months and answered Labour’s call to increase the Local Housing Allowance. Both are welcome, but do not go far enough.
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11 Mar 20
News from UK-EU negotiations.
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16 Dec 19
During the campaign I met lots of people I've worked with or helped during the last 4 years but also realised lots of people don't know what an MP can (and can't) do in constituency or Westminster. I'll blog about this later in the week. For now, some examples of how I can help:
If you're having problems and got stuck in a process with Universal Credit, Tax office, immigration service, benefits assessments, council or any other state agency - i. e. Public not private - my caseworkers and I may be able to advocate on your behalf and get it sorted.
We can't help with initial applications usually, that's something Citizen's Advice or Law Centres or local advice agencies better for. But once a process has started, if it gets stuck or you think something has gone wrong, we can try to help.
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25 Nov 19
THREAD to mark UN International day to #EndViolenceAgainstWomen which is today, 25th November, as per UN resolution 54/134. This is the date on which, in 1960, the Mirabal sisters, Dominican Republic activists, were murdered on the order of the Dominican Leader.
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3. Across the world, including in the UK, women who are killed are more likely to be killed by partner, ex-partner or family member than any other category of person. In UK, two women per week are killed by partner or ex.
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