Today there will be a vote in Parliament on establishing an independent inquiry into the Government’s mishandling of the cladding scandal.
Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Daisy Cooper MP, will put forward a Ten Minute Rule Motion for MPs to vote on this afternoon.
It follows the passing of the Fire Safety Bill in April, which failed to provide vital protection for leaseholders and tenants against the costs of remediation.
Ms Cooper will call for the inquiry to focus on three areas in particular:
- The Government’s failures to date
- The faulty design of the Building Safety Fund
- The gaping hole between the Prime Minister’s promises and his Government’s actions
Ahead of her speech in the House of Commons today, Daisy Cooper MP said: “After the Grenfell tragedy, the Conservative Government said “never again” – but four years later its own handling of the building safety crisis has degenerated into a national scandal of epic proportions.
“It’s incomprehensible that the government still doesn’t know the scale of the challenge, has cobbled together a feeble package of support that excludes so many of those who are affected, and is now actively back-tracking on its promise to protect innocent leaseholders from the extortionate costs of fire safety problems that are not of their making.
“The Government has turned its back on blameless fire safety victims at every turn, leaving innocent people at personal risk and in financial ruin, burdening them with sky-high bills and unsafe, unsellable properties. An inquiry is now needed to investigate why the Conservative Government has made so little progress in tackling the fire safety scandal and why it keeps putting the interests of the big developers ahead of innocent fire safety victims.
“Liberal Democrats are calling for a public inquiry so those affected can get the justice and answers they deserve.”