Building Safety (Remediation of Unsafe Cladding etc) Bill

Apsana Begum Excerpts

2nd reading
Tuesday 27th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Apsana Begum (Poplar and Limehouse) (Lab)]

Six weeks ago, residents in Neutron Tower in my constituency woke up in the middle of the night to a fire. They had to rush from flat to flat to warn their neighbours of what was unfolding. Tragically, one of my constituents lost his life, and I am sure that all of us in this House send our condolences to his family and loved ones. Others were hospitalised, and evacuated residents are being told that it may be months before they can return. This was the first fatal fire at a tower block that has unsafe cladding since Grenfell. It happened in a building that had been identified as having combustible insulation in the cladding, combustible balcony floors and defective balcony doors. While investigations are still ongoing, early indications are that the cladding itself did not play a role in this fire. However, the fact that the fire occurred in a building that has been awaiting remediation for so long has terrified residents of Neutron Tower and the adjacent Proton and Elektron Towers, and of Switch House, as well as those in the hundreds of other high-rise residential units in my constituency that need remediation work.

This serious incident is a stark and grave reminder of the potential peril faced by hundreds of thousands of people in this country, who feel that they are at the mercy of unscrupulous developers and managing agents. Repairs and remediation are being delayed again and again, and residents’ safety concerns are going unheard, all while they are tied to unsellable assets and escalating fees. Astonishingly, traumatised residents who have been evacuated from Neutron Tower are still being made to pay rent and service charges in the meantime. The fact that this Bill is being put before the House is welcome, as are the engagements that I have had with the Building Safety Regulator, the Secretary of State and officials in her Department; I know from them that the Neutron Tower fire is being taken extremely seriously.

Many of my constituents who fall into the category of having non-external cladding risks and internal defects in their homes, or of being non-qualified leaseholders, will be looking closely at the Bill as it progresses through the House. They will be pleased to have heard the Secretary of State’s announcement that these areas will be explored as the Bill progresses. I pay tribute to the End Our Cladding Scandal campaign, led by a group who have been campaigning on these fronts for a long time. I have been contacted by unpaid resident directors of local right-to-manage companies, who are worried about the new liabilities that they might face for defects that they did not cause, without any new funding or support for meeting those duties.

Then there is the bigger picture—the behaviours and the dispute practices that have allowed remediation processes to drag on for completely unacceptable lengths of time for so many buildings. I am disappointed that the new powers that will be placed on responsible entities will exclude developers who are part of the developer remediation contract, because developers under the DRC are able to delay remediation, drag their heels and avoid financial responsibilities. I understand that the Government’s position is that there are enough existing mechanisms under the DRC, so the backstop powers in the Bill do not need to be extended any further, but the system is not working in practice. Many residents are alarmed that there is not greater accountability for those ultimately responsible.

Ultimately, this comes down to a question of ambition. There is no denying the complexities at play in this decade-long ordeal. I am glad that some of the glaring gaps in the Bill are already being addressed, so that we can finally, through legislation, fix issues that we have been talking about for so long. The questions for many of my constituents, including the residents of Neutron Tower, are: when will the remaining gaps be addressed and, most importantly, how long before they finally have a safe home? Like many hon. Members, I will follow the Bill very closely as it progresses through the House, and will look for ways in which it can be strengthened even further, because we cannot delay taking action any longer.