The Conservatives batted off two Labour motions in typical style last night as the crucial issues of a “deepening cladding crisis” and Covid security at UK borders passed through parliament without so much as a sniffle.
Sir Keir Starmer moved to protect tenants and leaseholders from unsafe cladding by demanding the government urgently establishes the extent of the problem in a vote last night and prioritises buildings according to risk.
It comes more than three and a half years after the disaster at Grenfell Tower in 2017, which claimed the lives of 72 people.
Speaking ahead of the debate, Starmer said: “Today needs to be a turning point for those affected by the cladding scandal.
“Millions of people have been sucked into this crisis due to years of dither, delay and half-baked solutions from the Government.
“For many leaseholders, the dream of home ownership has become a nightmare. They feel abandoned, locked down in flammable homes and facing ruinous costs for repair work and interim safety measures.”
The vote received 263 ayes and zero noes as the Tories abstained on the issue.
It took the Housing Secretary less than 24 hours to intervene and get approval for a Tory donor’s £1bn development.
— Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP (@BellRibeiroAddy) February 1, 2021
Almost 4 years after Grenfell, there are 56,000 people still living in homes with dangerous cladding.
He didn’t even show up to today's cladding debate.
Boris Johnson also told his MPs to stay away from another Labour opposition day motion demanding the tightening of the UK’s borders.
The vote calls on ministers to require all arrivals from abroad to quarantine in a hotel for ten days, in response to growing fears about vaccine-resistant strains of coronavirus being imported to the UK.
It comes after residents on the Isle of Man were allowed to go about their lives as normal following a strict lockdown and border controls.
Schools and businesses reopened with residents no longer asked to stay at home and precautions such as social distancing and face coverings now a matter of personal choice.
In Westminster, the movement received just 262 ayes from opposition MPs.
Related: Covid cases fall up to four times faster in rich parts of UK, data reveals
