Oral Answers to Questions

Helen Hayes Excerpts

Wednesday 16th June 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Yes. I thank my hon. and right hon. Friends for their excellent report, and I think it is time to put a TIGRR in the tank.

[Helen Hayes (Dulwich and West Norwood) (Lab)]

I associate myself with the remarks concerning the fifth anniversary of the murder of Jo Cox. Jo was a dear personal friend and colleague, who will always be missed and remembered, and whose extraordinary legacy endures far beyond this place. Last month, a fire in an east London block of flats caused three people to be hospitalised and dozens more to be treated for smoke inhalation. That block was one of more than 200 high-rise buildings in England still fitted with Grenfell-style cladding. I ask the Prime Minister why it is that four years after the Grenfell tragedy took 72 lives, and after all the warnings, all the tireless campaigning and the unspeakable injustice, people are still living in unsafe flats, and his Government have failed to end the cladding scandal.

[The Prime Minister]

We have invested massively in removing cladding from high-rise blocks, and we will continue to do so. I know the structure in question and I do believe that Ballymore, the company concerned, has been too slow. We are on its case. I think it is very important that people understand that overall risks of death by fire have been coming down for a very long time and will continue to come down. It is simply not the case that all the high-rise buildings in this country are unsafe, and it is very important that Members of Parliament stress that.