Thread by @LiamSpender

1/6 #BuildingSafetyCrisis Just catching up on @LordRoyKennedy's urgent question to @team_greenhalgh in the House of Lords today.

Video of full questioning is here: parliamentlive.tv/event/index/79…

2/6 Shocking answers from @teamgreenhalgh. He repeated the gov'ts incorrect assertion that works not covered by the BSF are "voluntary".

This is incorrect. The non-BSF works are often necessary to meet the standards of the Advice Notes but the gov't has chosen not to pay.

3/6 Unsurprisingly @teamgreehalgh blamed Ballymore for what happened to @npwlra with the fire on Friday, noting that the gov't has only offered £8 million to £12 million of works.

No mention of the fact that it took until last year for the gov't to put up any material funding.

4/6 @kathpinnock also raised the issue of managing agents demanding leaseholders sign agreements committing to pay non-BSF costs.

Any leaseholder who signs such an agreement is waiving any right to challenge the reasonableness of the charges incurred, both in purpose and amount.

5/6 If that is what managing agents are asking any leaseholder to do then it can only be described as despicable.

Such agreements would give agents carte blanche, leaving leaseholders firmly on the hook with no avenue to challenge unreasonable expenditure.

6/6 So another day in which the depth of the government's failure in relation to this issue was made plain.

Perhaps in a sign of a gathering storm, there were a questions from Tory backbench peers on this issue not at all friendly to the gov't.