Unsafe Cladding Bill Clears Commons Second Reading

MPs gave the Building Safety (Remediation of Unsafe Cladding etc) Bill its second reading on 27 October without a vote, backing in principle a new legal duty on building owners to fix dangerous external walls on blocks of flats. Housing Secretary Angela Rayner opened the debate by recalling the 72 people, 18 of them children, who died in the Grenfell Tower fire nine years ago, according to Hansard. The bill now goes to a Public Bill Committee, which must finish by 8 December.

What the bill does

A second reading is the first full Commons debate on a bill’s main aims. Rayner told MPs that up to 380,000 residents still live in buildings with unsafe cladding and that regulators have taken enforcement action on more than 900 buildings. She described these main measures:

• A legal duty to remediate: responsible owners must fix building safety defects with urgency. Rayner said anyone who deliberately fails to deal with buildings over 11 metres faces fines of up to £500,000 and, where needed, criminal prosecution.
• Stronger regulators: escalating financial penalties and prosecution in the worst cases, so residents have a route to repairs even when an owner ignores the duty.
• One assessment standard: PAS 9980, an existing industry method, becomes the required standard for fire risk appraisals of external walls.
• Making others pay: developers and contractors who paid for repairs can pursue manufacturers more easily, and construction product makers must contribute to repair costs met by taxpayers.

Rayner also said she will table amendments to widen leaseholder cost protection under the Building Safety Act 2022 from owners of up to three properties to up to six, and to go further on claims against product manufacturers.

Where it stands

• 14 October 2026: first reading (formal introduction) in the Commons (Bills API).
• 27 October 2026: second reading agreed without a division; programme, money and ways and means motions also agreed.
• By 8 December 2026: Public Bill Committee must complete its line-by-line scrutiny, under the programme motion.

What supporters and critics say

Shadow minister Katie Lam said the Conservatives welcome the aim but fear the bill “may risk making the problem worse.” She argued that repairs are slow mainly because fire engineers and contractors are scarce, and that “passing a law that says that buildings must be fixed will not create a single new fire engineer.” She said the bill requires every building to be assessed within a year, with assessments audited by Homes England from the same small pool of specialists. She also questioned whether the tests of “deliberately” and “as soon as reasonably practicable” are too broad for penalties that she said include up to two years in prison.

For the Liberal Democrats, Gideon Amos said his party supports the legal duty, its extension to buildings of 11 to 18 metres and easier claims against manufacturers, so it had not tabled a fatal amendment. But he called the bill “substandard” because it sets no statutory deadline and does not require repairs to meet the building regulations as strengthened after Grenfell. He also said it adds no funding for buildings under 11 metres.

Green MP Carla Denyer welcomed the bill “as far as it goes” but said it does not do enough for people in lower blocks. Labour’s Joe Powell, who has worked with Grenfell survivors, called for independent scrutiny of fire assessments. Closing the debate, minister Florence Eshalomi said the bill deliberately focuses on external cladding, in line with the Grenfell Tower Inquiry’s phase 1 findings.

Analysis: No MP forced a vote against the bill, so the contest moves to its details. Committee is likely to focus on the safety standard repairs must meet, how the new criminal duty is defined, and whether leaseholders in lower buildings get more help.

What happens next

• Committee stage: a Public Bill Committee examines each clause and votes on amendments, including the government’s promised changes on leaseholder protection.
• Report and third reading: the whole Commons can amend the bill again before a final vote.
• House of Lords: the bill then passes through the same stages in the Lords before Royal Assent, the formal approval that makes it law.

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Sources

• Hansard, Building Safety (Remediation of Unsafe Cladding etc) Bill, House of Commons second reading, 27 October 2026.
• UK Parliament, Building Safety (Remediation of Unsafe Cladding etc) Bill: stages and documents.
• UK Parliament Bills API, stage history for bill 4305.