Today Muslims across the UK and around the world mark the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan. As a proud Muslim, the period of reflection, prayer, and fasting is incredibly important to our Muslim community. Traditionally, Ramadan is a time for gathering and sharing Iftar with family and friends. Although, like last year, we are unable to come together and celebrate as we normally would, the spirit of Ramadan remains. To every Muslim nurse and doctor who have saved countless lives throughout this pandemic, to every volunteer and community leader in our Mosques and community centres who continue to support those most vulnerable, and to every Muslim in Tooting and across the country, I wish you all Ramadan Mubarak. As you will know, a South African variant of Covid-19 has arrived in the UK. This new Covid variant has now been detected in CR4 (Merton). Residents in CR4 are no different to us in neighbouring Tooting (SW16 and SW17). We use the same shops, the same hospital, and the same parks, so if it’s there, it could very easily be here. This will be the same across all affected areas. As a matter of urgency, the Government needs to launch widespread testing in neighbouring postcodes. This is the only way to see how widespread these new variants are. I have written to the Secretary of State for Health, Matt Hancock MP, the Director of Public Health at Wandsworth Council, Shannon Katiyo, and the Chief Executive of Wandsworth Council, Paul Martin, to ask about plans to launch testing in neighbouring postcodes. While I press for action on this, we need to make sure we’re all doing everything we can to keep ourselves and each other safe. It’s absolutely vital that we minimise our social contact to prevent the spread of this new variant within our community. Please think twice before leaving home, and when you do leave, please continue to adhere to social distancing. Together, we will get through this. In light of the upcoming Fire Safety Bill, I would to thank every resident who has written to me with their concerns on this and for continuing to keep me updated on the cladding issues affecting their property. I recognise what an exceptionally difficult time this is and appreciate how much anxiety the cladding proposals are causing to many leaseholders.
On more than fifteen occasions, Ministers promised that leaseholders would not be landed with the costs of remedial works. Yet, people are still being put at risk, trapped in flammable buildings for a third lockdown, with leaseholders placed in an impossible position and promises broken. It is evident that the Government’s handling of the cladding crisis has lacked any sense of grip or urgency. For this reason, the Labour Party have tabled an Opposition Day Debate on cladding for Monday, which will subsequently bring forward a vote that will call for leaseholders to be protected from the costs of remediating their blocks with dangerous cladding. The party will also be tabling a number of amendments to the Fire Safety Bill that will aim to protect leaseholders from unfair costs through the power of the law. I am aware that many residents have been in touch to request that I support the McPartland and Smith amendment, which provides welcome clarity on the specific costs that would be prevented from being passed on to leaseholders. Labour has sought to go further on this. As currently drafted, the McPartland and Smith amendment would not have covered blocks like Grenfell - where flammable cladding has been added at some stage following the building of the block. It only applies to defects in the original design of buildings. The Labour Party’s amendment would ensure that the cost of fire safety problems from refurbishment jobs, like the cladding on Grenfell Tower, cannot be passed on to leaseholders. Labour’s amendments also include new clauses so that the Bill protects leaseholders from the day it comes into law, instead of an unknown date in the future. I would like to thank my colleagues in the Labour Party, Sarah Jones MP, Nick Thomas-Symonds MP, Thangam Debbonaire MP and Mike Amesbury MP for their hard work and commitment to addressing this large injustice on a national scale. If any residents have any further queries on this issue, please do not hesitate to get in touch to discuss this further. In the meantime, I hope this post assures you of the steps myself and the Labour Party are taking to protect tenants and leaseholders during this cladding crisis. |
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