Ministers stump up cladding cash to quell Tory rebellion

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Ministers stump up cladding cash to quell Tory rebellion: Government will provide more money for people faced with cost of fixing unsafe material in wake of Grenfell amid fury from MPs

  • Leaseholders face average cost of £40,000 each to replace dangerous cladding 
  • Tory MPs have accused Ministers of ‘incompetence’ in their response to crisis  
  • Christopher Pincher said more financial support to be confirmed ‘very shortly’

By Faith Ridler For Mailonline

Published: | Updated:

Downing Street plans to provide more cash to those faced with the cost of fixing unsafe cladding in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire.

It comes as Tory MPs accused ministers of ‘incompetence’ in their response to the crisis, with politicians from all parties warning more leaseholders will go bankrupt if urgent action is not taken.

Hundreds of thousands of leaseholders face average costs of £40,000 each – and some of up to £115,000 – to replace dangerous cladding, similar to that found on the Grenfell Tower in Kensington, west London, where an inferno killed 72 people in June 2017.    

Conservative MPs have urged the Government to act quickly to stop flat owners from being forced to pay for the removal of this material from their homes.    

Housing Minister Chris Pincher has now confirmed the Government will announce ‘very shortly’ a financial solution to protect leaseholders from high costs to deal with unsafe cladding. 

It is expected that this will be confirmed within weeks, the BBC reported. 

Pictured: The Grenfell Tower inferno in the Lancaster West Estate in North Kensington – the disaster was the worst residential fire since WWII

Extra funding allocated to remove unsafe cladding from high-rise buildings could amount to billions, it was said.

The Government has already set up a £1,6billion safety fund to pay for the removal of cladding similar to that used on Grenfell, but MPs claim this is insufficient.  

It comes as a Labour motion calling on ministers to provide immediate funding to fix unsafe homes and spare leaseholders the crippling financial burden passed by 263 votes to zero in a landmark Commons debate.  

The vote is not binding and Tory MPs were told to abstain, but campaigners hailed it as ‘encouraging’ and called on Boris Johnson to heed the demands of his own backbenchers. 

More than 70 MPs spoke out during the debate while Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick was slammed for skipping the vote. 

Just 216 out of a possible 11,760 dangerous buildings have been fixed since the fire, which broke out in a fourth-floor kitchen in Grenfell Tower almost four years ago. 

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said it was ‘unimaginable’ that the Government could not meet the deadline of fixing all unsafe homes by June next year.

He added: ‘What I want to see is some real energy from the Government, to front some of the money themselves, identify the highest risk blocks and get on with it. But we must also go after the developers and builders.’

Labour is also calling on the Government to establish a taskforce to examine the extent of dangerous cladding in England.

Housing Minister Chris Pincher (pictured) said the Government will announce 'very shortly' a financial solution to protect leaseholders from high costs to deal with unsafe cladding

Housing Minister Chris Pincher (pictured) said the Government will announce ‘very shortly’ a financial solution to protect leaseholders from high costs to deal with unsafe cladding

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said it was 'unimaginable' that the Government could not meet the deadline of fixing all unsafe homes by June next year

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said it was ‘unimaginable’ that the Government could not meet the deadline of fixing all unsafe homes by June next year

The Government avoided a rebellion during the vote on Monday by ordering Tory MPs to abstain.

But it did not escape fierce criticism from Conservative backbenchers, who said its attempts to fix the crisis had made matters worse for leaseholders. Stephen McPartland, Tory MP for Stevenage, said the Government ‘had been incompetent throughout this saga’.

Several Conservatives offered their support for the amendments, signalling the Government faces a strong challenge when the Bill returns to the Commons.

Dame Margaret Hodge, Labour MP for Barking in east London, accused ministers of abandoning leaseholders who had been left to ‘live on the edge from one pay cheque to the next’.  

Emma Byrne, of the End Our Cladding Scandal campaign, said: ‘It was encouraging to hear that so many MPs from all political parties understand the awful circumstances in which so many of us are living.

‘The fact that Robert Jenrick could not even be bothered to attend shows, tragically, that this issue still does not have the priority it deserves within Government.

‘Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak must now listen to the rising level of concern within their own party. If they do not act to protect leaseholders they will be making a colossal political mistake which will not be forgotten by millions of voters.’

The Government has set aside £1.6billion to fund repairs but MPs estimate the total cost could be closer to £15billion. 

The Grenfell Tower Inquiry: What we have discovered about the catastrophic fire so far

The Grenfell Tower Inquiry was launched by Theresa May in the wake of the blaze, which killed 72 people when it ripped through the tower block in Kensington, west London on June 14, 2017.

The inquiry, chaired by retired judge Sir Martin Moore-Bick, had the aim of establishing ‘the facts of what happened at Grenfell Tower in order to take the necessary action to prevent a similar tragedy from happening again.’ 

It was divided into two phases: Phase One, which addressed the events of the night of the fire, and Phase Two, which will investigate the wider situation.

The initial phase was concluded in December 2018, with its findings published in October 2019.

 Sir Martin identified 46 changes that should be made to ensure the safety of high-rise residents, which touch on the ways the buildings are designed, constructed, approved and managed.

His recommendations also considered how fire and rescue services respond to such fires. 

When deciding on the recommendations, Sir Martin said he had particularly considered their capacity for ‘making a significant contribution to the safety of those who live in high-rise buildings.’  

The ongoing Phase Two began in Paddington on January 28, 2020.  It was suspended briefly between March and July due to the Covid-19 crisis.

It will consider whether the regulations relating to high-rise buildings in England and Wales should be changed to apply to buildings lower than 18 metres.

Also to be discussed will be whether the use of combustible materials on the outside of high-rises should be banned, alongside the testing and certification of materials and  the installation of sprinklers.

In November, the inquiry started to examine the manufacturing, safety, testing and marketing of the cladding products used in Grenfell Tower.