Shabana Mahmood Member of Parliament for Birmingham Ladywood
Shabana Mahmood, MP for Birmingham Ladywood, is calling on the Government to take action to resolve the cladding scandal and protect leaseholders, as protesters meet in Birmingham to rally against the scandal ahead of the four-year anniversary of the devastating Grenfell tower fire.
Earlier this year, the Government voted against amendments to protect leaseholders in the Fire and Safety Bill. Shabana has criticised this decision as the Government previously promised leaseholders would not pay a penny to resolve defects in buildings with unsafe cladding. Instead, the Government are now asking leaseholders to foot the bill for remediation bills that are running into the millions of pounds in Birmingham alone.
Shabana will continue to work on a cross-party basis to confront the Government in Parliament and hold them to account over their failings to protect leaseholders across the country.
Shabana Mahmood, MP for Birmingham Ladywood, said:
“The cladding scandal is a failure of government. In less than 10 days we will mark the four-year anniversary of the devastating Grenfell Tower fire. A fire that ripped through an unsafe building leading to the deaths of 72 people – mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and friends. In these four long years the response we have been given by the government is tantamount to a shrug of the shoulders. I won’t stop standing up for those affected in my constituency, across Birmingham, and up and down the country until this is fixed.
“Fear remains in homes up and down the nation as leaseholders remain trapped, through no fault of their own, in unsafe flats littered with fire safety defects and flammable cladding. They have begged the Government to act faster as they teeter on the brink of financial and emotion ruin, but no meaningful action has come.
“The Government have had many opportunities to fix this scandal. I’ve done everything I can to push amendments to legislation – blocked by the government – build cross-party support for motions – blocked by the government – and called on ministers to meet with families. We need action on leaseholder remediation costs. We need a determined effort to tackle insurance rises. Most of all we need a ban on those who installed dangerous cladding being awarded public sector contracts. Those who profited from immoral actions must be held to account.”