Thread by @LiamSpender

1/16 #buildingsafetybill Where are we now?

The Lords completed Report stage today.

It crunched through 276 amendments in about 7 hours of debate, so only a superficial review of a Bill that will have far reaching effects on residential buildings for the next 30-40 years, plus.

https://twitter.com/LiamSpender/status/1508783364152647681

2/16 This is no way to make laws, particularly not in the self-styled Mother of All Parliaments.

This is serious and complicated legislation. Changes should have been considered most carefully.

The government has taken nearly 5 years since Grenfell to bring this Bill forward.

3/16 The government can, and should, have done much better than a last minute package of amendments to protect leaseholders.

That should have been at the core of the Bill from day 1. It is a stain on this government's reputation that it was not.

4/16 So, where are we after Report?

The government was defeated 4 times today, on various different amendments.

5/16 The first defeat was this morning, 176-151 on an amendment requiring the new regulator to perform a cost-benefit analysis on sprinklers and protection for disabled residents.

Results here: votes.parliament.uk/Votes/Lords/Di…

6/16 The second defeat was this evening, 156 - 123 on an amendment extending protection to buildings of all heights.

Two senior Tories, both ex-Chief Whips, Lords Young and Blencathra rebelled. A serious headache for the government.

Results here: votes.parliament.uk/Votes/Lords/Di…

7/16 The third defeat was this evening, 146 - 114 on an amendment extending the leaseholder costs protection to enfranchised buildings.

Again, it was led by Lords Young and Blencathra.

Results here: votes.parliament.uk/Votes/Lords/Di…

8/16 The fourth defeat, 137 - 123, was on a Labour amendment to set leaseholder contributions at zero for non-cladding works.

Results here: votes.parliament.uk/Votes/Lords/Di…

9/16 The government fended off 159 - 24 a Liberal Democrat attempt to impose restrictions on planning permissions for developers who do not fix their buildings in the next five years.

Results here: votes.parliament.uk/Votes/Lords/Di…

10/16 The Earl of Lytton's attempt to insert the revised polluter pays amendments into the Bill also did not succeed, being lost 117 - 94.

Results here: votes.parliament.uk/Votes/Lords/Di…

11/16 Overall, the changes to the Bill are pro-leaseholder.

The extension of protection to enfranchised buildings and the zero contributions are big wins.

Will they be reversed in the Commons? The government has the power to do so, but look who was leading today's rebellion.

12/16 After this comes Third Reading, likely to be early next week.

We may see more attempts to amend the Bill then.

It will then go to the Commons after its Easter Recess, so after 19 April.

The government has the power to overturn today's votes, but is that wise?

13/16 Today's votes to expand leaseholder protection were led by prominent Conservative politicians.

There was palpable widespread support for leaseholders in the Chamber.

Is the government going to keep ignoring that?

14/16 And time draws short to get this Bill through.

The Queen's Speech is due on 10 May, so we can expect the current session to end in late April or early May.

Or will we see a repeat of last year's Fire Safety Bill, when there were many warm words, but no improvements.

15/16 Ultimately, whilst there have been material improvements in the Bill, we are still in a most unsatisfactory position.

This can, and should, have been resolved years ago.

The fact that it is still not resolved is a national embarrassment.

16/16 It has been a long day. I am pretty deflated. I have spent a lot of time on this since January, time I feel is largely wasted because there are still too many holes in the Bill.

I sincerely hope we see better before this law makes it to statute books.