Business of the House

Florence Eshalomi Excerpts

Thursday 3rd September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

My hon. Friend raises a really sensible and important point. Free ports will be of great importance to many areas of our economy, both coastal and inland, and they will be a centrepiece of our international trade economy in the future. As he rightly says, this is only possible because we are leaving the dead regulatory hand of the European Union’s transition period on 31 December, having already left that organisation on 31 January. The free port consultation has closed and officials are carefully reviewing the hundreds of responses received, probably including one from my hon. Friend. The Government will publish a response in due course and set out their policy of free ports being national hubs for trade, innovation and commerce regenerating communities across the United Kingdom.

[Florence Eshalomi (Vauxhall) (Lab/Co-op) [V]]

Two weeks ago, I held a Zoom call with around 75 Vauxhall residents living in a new-build development with dangerous cladding. In January, there were given an external wall rating of B1, which is the lowest rating. As a result, the fire authorities mandated a waking watch. That is an expensive cost for many leaseholders and those costs are not covered by the Government. This is making these buildings really dangerous. A number of the residents, whose lives are on hold, have told me that they cannot move and cannot get a mortgage. Essentially, they are trapped in homes that are high risk. Can we please have a debate in Government time about the scandal and the shameful situation of dangerous cladding and the enormous personal impact this is having on leaseholders, not just in Vauxhall but right across the country?

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

The Government are introducing legislation improving building standards, including requiring building owners and managers of multi-occupied buildings to consider the risks of cladding and fire doors, and introducing clearer accountability for those responsible for the safety of high-rise buildings. We have also made available a significant amount of taxpayers’ money to remove dangerous cladding. However, the hon. Lady raises the case of a specific building, and I will pass that on to the Secretary of State responsible.