The shadow minister for housing visited Ipswich to discuss cladding issues at Cardinal Lofts and St Francis Tower.
Matthew Pennycook, Labour's shadow minister for housing and planning, met with Alex Dickin of Cardinal Lofts, Ross Bonna of St Francis Tower, and Jack Abbott, Labour and Co-operative parliamentary candidate for Ipswich.
The meeting focused on the impact of the building safety crisis on leaseholders and residents.
Mr Dickin, the founder of Ipswich Cladiators, said: “We went into two flats in St Francis Tower to witness the conditions of being cut off from the rest of the world and even on a sunny day, we could barely see out.
“As it comes to Cardinal Lofts, the majority of residents are now in temporary accommodation.
"However, we still don't know when the work is going to start, how long it's going to take, and then when we can go back to our homes.
“We’re really thankful for Matthew Pennycook’s visit today because overall Ipswich only has a small selection of buildings that are affected in comparison to cities like London where they've got thousands.
“The impact on us personally is so severe, and it's so stressful.
“It’s really important for us to see potentially how a Labour government could resolve the building safety crisis.”
Mr Pennycook said: “One of the things that always strikes me about the crisis is that every building is different, and the problems affecting tenants and leaseholders are different.
“I don't think that we solved the crisis by any measure. I think for the vast majority of leaseholders across the country it remains entirely unresolved.
“We got very, very slow pace of remediation across the country and no enforceable standards for how that remediation work is carried out.
“There are so many gaps in the approach that the government has adopted, and I think ultimately, they could cause a real problem for business, for buildings of this kind.
“There are two things that we have always said as the opposition: it's not good enough to just protect some leaseholders and not others and all leaseholders are blameless in our view, irrespective of circumstance, and they shouldn't pay for any cladding or non-cladding historic defects.”
Mr Abbott added: “I've been really keen to get a Labour frontbencher up to Ipswich.
“The cladding crisis is a national problem, but we've got major issues here and I wanted to bring Matt Pennycook so he could see for himself.
“It’s really important that he was able to talk to the residents to understand their experiences so that when it comes to the next general election, the Labour Party will have a really strong offer on the cladding issue.”
Ipswich MP, Tom Hunt, said: "Next month I will be bringing forward a new Bill to ensure that what has happened at St Francis Tower isn't allowed to happen again.
"It would bring forward a new legally binding Code of Practice stipulating clear guidelines to ensure that the injustice of what's happened at St Francis Tower isn't repeated. I'm appalled at how they've been treated.
"The shadow minister sat through the special debate I held in Parliament on St Francis Tower and is well aware of my views. I would encourage him to put party politics aside and support my 10 Minute Rule Bill on this matter.
"I continue to work closely with Cardinal Lofts residents to ensure that they supported appropriately.
"We need to new regulatory framework in my view to ensure leaseholders and tenants are treated far better in my view. I will work with anyone to achieve this.
"The fire safety minister Lee Rowley has already visited Cardinal Lofts and Michael Gove has said he will visit soon."
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