Campaigners call on SNP to support cladding amendment after Scottish Conservatives helped vote it down

The SNP has previously abstained as the bill only applies to England, but this abstention is voluntary as the ‘English Votes for English Laws’ rule was suspended in April last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The EOCS campaign pointed out that six Conservative MPs – including Douglas Ross, leader of the Scottish Conservative Party – voted with the government when the amendment was previously defeated on 22 March.

This is despite Mr Ross pledging as recently as October that his MPs would not vote on English matters amid the row over free school meals.

A Scottish Conservatives spokesperson told The Press and Journal at the time: “In future, our MPs will not take part in votes that relate to England only.”

While the amendment was comfortably defeated last time, 33 Conservative MPs rebelled and eight abstained.

This means the SNP’s support would transform the forthcoming vote into a knife-edge contest with a serious possibility of government defeat.

The amendment seeks to offer legal protection to leaseholders who face paying huge costs to remediate fire safety defects in their blocks of flats. Despite the government offering £5.1bn in funding for the removal of cladding, many still face financial ruin for other defects or because they do not meet the criteria for funding.

MPs from Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, Wales’ Plaid Cymru and the Scottish Liberal Democrats have also previously voted on the bill, in support of protecting leaseholders, despite it being an England-only application.

In its letter to Mr Blackford, seen by Inside Housing, the EOCS campaigners wrote: “This crisis is clearly a UK-wide issue and strong political will from all parties and a sustained cross-party co-operative approach is urgently needed to find a resolution. We are unable to make this happen without your support.

“Please, please do all you can to help to protect the innocent victims of the building safety crisis across the UK.”

The Scottish government has begun assessing buildings directly using a ‘Single Building Assessment’ model in order to prioritise necessary remediation by risk. In its letter, the campaigners said they “wholeheartedly commend” this approach.

A spokesperson for the Scottish Conservatives said: “Although this Bill only applies to England, Scottish Conservative representatives recognised that this was a significant response to the national tragedy of the Grenfell Tower fire.

“This will set the foundations of implementing the recommendations of the inquiry and ensuring there is greater accountability in relation to fire safety.

“There is a duty on governments across the United Kingdom to ensure the right changes to fire safety legislation are implemented.

“We would also encourage the SNP to use the funding they have from the UK Government to ban combustible materials from high-risk buildings. This would bring Scotland into line with other countries in the UK.”