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Morning Briefing: Raab and Abbott clash on Question Time over Grenfell
Housing minister Dominic Raab clashed with shadow home secretary Diane Abbott on Question Time last night over the issue of flammable cladding
In the news
The BBC has a clip of the moment on its website – in which Ms Abbott asks Mr Raab if he would live in a building covered in combustible cladding after the Grenfell Tower fire.
You can also watch a clip of Channel 4’s interview with Dame Judith Hackitt about her review of building regulations.
Inside Housing has published an abridged transcript of its own interview with Dame Hackitt.
Meanwhile, the BBC reports on a worrying story from Birmingham. According to council officers there, Grenfell-style cladding has been found on 132 privately-owned high rises in the city.
The total number of private buildings with dangerous cladding across the country is still not known.
Unsurprisingly, given the week’s events, a number of titles run stories and opinion pieces relating to cladding today.
Clarrie Mendy-Solomon, who lost her cousin and daughter in the Grenfell atrocity, expresses her shock that the Hackitt Review failed to call for a ban on dangerous cladding in The Independent.
And in The Guardian, Labour MP Karen Buck calls for a ban on combustible materials right away. The Red Brick housing blog has a piece expressing a similar sentiment.
Meanwhile, Louise Ellman, Labour MP for Liverpool Riverside, has again called on ministers to help leaseholders in a Liverpool tower block who face £18,000 bills to replace unsafe cladding, per the BBC.
In other news, the New Statesman runs an interview with Stephanie Cryan, cabinet member for housing at Southwark Council. Ms Cryan, whose council was a trailblazer for new homelessness duties, warns the Homelessness Reduction Act could make people “unintentionally homeless”.
And in case you missed it yesterday, Jasmine Whitbread, chief executive of London First, raised questions about Sadiq Khan’s housebuilding promises in an article for the Evening Standard.
Savills, meanwhile, runs a blog on its website about the mayor’s promise to build 10,000 council homes by 2022.
In Wales, the BBC reports that the Welsh Assembly Public Accounts Committee has warned in a report that changes to the Supporting People programme could risk letting vulnerable people down.
And finally, house builder Countryside Properties said yesterday it plans to set up its own modular housing factory, capable of churning out 1,500 homes a year, according to The Telegraph.
On social media
CIH Futures has put out a reminder that its rounders tournament to raise £10,000 for Women’s Aid kicks off today:
We are supporting the @CIHhousing Presidential Charity for @Alison_Inman to raise £10,000 for @womensaid by putting on a National Rounders Tournement. The #HousingCup ‘Northern Heats’ kick off in Liverpool tomorrow so please give generously at t.co/RIjwr5Nh8M pic.twitter.com/9tjiwG9Uh0
— CIH Futures (@CIHFutures)We are supporting the @CIHhousing Presidential Charity for @Alison_Inman to raise £10,000 for @womensaid by putting on a National Rounders Tournement. The #HousingCup ‘Northern Heats’ kick off in Liverpool tomorrow so please give generously at https://t.co/RIjwr5Nh8M pic.twitter.com/9tjiwG9Uh0
— CIH Futures (@CIHFutures) May 17, 2018
