Boris Johnson news – live: Government accused of ‘betrayal’ over cladding as EU ‘deeply regrets’ border fiasco

Downing Street has urged Tory MP Stephen McPartland to “look closely” at the latest cladding package after he branded the announcement a “betrayal of millions of leaseholders”.

Boris Johnson’s press secretary Allegra Stratton told reporters on Wednesday: “Clearly we will encourage McPartland to look closely at the package that’s been drawn up.

“Before it was a £1.6bn package, now it is £5bn. It is detailed, it is looking at the awful situation many people find themselves in and we think it will go a very long way towards addressing the insecurity and distress that people find themselves in when they are in flats that they worry about.”

It comes after Mr McPartland appeared on BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme to defend “innocent” leaseholders in the structural crisis.

“The taxpayer is going to have to pay up-front to resolve a lot of these issues and then try to claw the money back from developers, building owners and insurance companies,” he told the BBC.

“Leaseholders are the innocent parties in this. Many of these people were in primary school when these buildings were being constructed and they are now being hit with bills that will be bankrupting them.

“I noticed he said something around it would be £50 a month, that would be just for cladding. But if that was £50,000, that £50 a month would take somebody 83 years to pay the bill off.

“And if it was a £50,000 bill, that’s just on cladding, never mind anything else.”

Robert Jenrick, still chairing the Commons at the time, responded to criticism of his announcement, saying leaseholders could take “great comfort” from knowing loans are available to them.

“The funding that we have made available today will provide leaseholders with the certainty and confidence that they need,” the communities secretary said in response to a question from Conservative former minister Sir Peter Bottomley.

“That any leaseholder in a building over 18 metres will now know that they will not have to pay for the removal of cladding and those leaseholders in the buildings that are lower rise, those of 11 to 18 metres, can have great comfort from the fact that this new financing arrangement will be in place.”

Greater Macnhester’s mayor Andy Burnahm swiftly took to Twitter to ask how the government could “justify this unfair and divisive move”.

“The campaign goes on,” he added, suggesting local leaders from across the country are unlikely to accept Mr Jenrick’s decision as final.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has added his voice to the debate, calling the government “shameful” for failing to do “what is needed” in the bid to rid all buildings of dangerous cladding.

Grenfell United, which represents the bereaved families and survivors of the London tower block disaster, said new government cladding pledges announced by Robert Jenrick were “still a long way from what is needed to fix this scandal”.

In a statement, the campaign group said: “For over three-and-a-half years we’ve been raising the alarm that thousands of people are living in unsafe homes and another Grenfell could happen at any time.

“It’s heartbreaking to say but once again today’s announcement is too little, too late.

“It does not address the various fire safety issues that are surfacing in many unsafe buildings. We needed something to deal with this mess once and for all – we didn’t get that today.”

The group added that residents should not be “forced into loans and new debt just because of the height of their building”.

It called for the development and construction industry to be “held fully responsible for what they have done”, adding that a “small levy” simply “doesn’t cut it”.

Shadow housing secretary Thangam Debbonaire has called the announcement by Robert Jenrick, that the government will only strip dangerous cladding from buildings over a certain height, a “repeat of undelivered promises”.

She told the Commons on Wednesday: “As a result of government choices, three-and-a-half years on from the Grenfell tragedy in which 72 people lost their lives, hundreds of thousands of people are still trapped in unsafe homes, many more unable to move.

“And today’s announcement is too late for too many. It’s a repeat of undelivered promises and backtracks on the key one that leaseholders should have no costs to pay.

“The Chancellor said last March all unsafe combustible cladding will be removed from every private and social residential building above 18 metres high, but that has not happened. Buildings haven’t been able to access the fund and £9 out of £10 is still sitting where it was.

“At every stage, the government underestimated the problem and delays caused it to grow. They still don’t know how many buildings are unsafe, where they are or what danger they pose.

“And until we have answers to those basic questions Government will continue to make mistakes, offering piece-meal solutions that then have to be updated when they don’t deliver.

Meanwhile, Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner and MP Margaret Hodge also weighed in on the issue:

Conservative MP Stephen McPartland, a vocal critic of the government’s handling of the cladding crisis, has tweeted:

The government will not pay to remove cladding from shorter buildings, leaving many leaseholders to take out loans to meet their huge costs.

Although housing secretary Robert Jenrick said no-one “will pay more than £50 a month, the announcement risked a backlash from Conservative MPs.

Communities secretary Robert Jenrick has announced that leaseholders in high-rise blocks of more than 18 metres will not face costs for the removal of unsafe cladding.

Speaking in the Commons on Wednesday afternoon, the minister announced what he described as an “unprecedented intervention”, which will provide £3.5 billion in funds for the removal of cladding.

He added that leaseholders in medium-sized blocks would not have to pay more than £50 per month for remedial work.

Thangam Debbonaire , the shadow housing secretary, said hundreds of thousands of people still live in unsafe housing. She called the proposals “too late for too many” and a “repeat of undelivered promises”.

The government’s announcement comes three and a half years after the Grenfell fire tragedy.

The government is recruting staff for a new “union unit” to counter the SNP’s drive for Scottish independence.

However, the Cabinet Office’s job advert for four policy positions does not require candidates to have knowledge about Scotland.

It states that “understanding of policy issues relevant to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland” is only “desirable” – rather than essential.