Sajid Javid threatens to force councils to upgrade buildings if they refuse to make them safe after Grenfell tower fire
COUNCILS AND LANDLORDS must ensure that their flats are safe after the Grenfell tower fire, or ministers will force them to take action, Sajid Javid has said.
The communities secretary gave a stern warning to them today and slammed some of their slow progress as "simply unacceptable".
In a statement about the aftermath of the Grenfell tower fire, five weeks ago today, he said that 208 blocks had been fitting with the similar cladding.
189 of those have had cladding tested and all have failed fire safety tests. But he was still waiting to see samples from seven towers who had yet to turn them over.
And he said that although legal responsibility for fire safety "lies with local authorities", he did have he power to direct an authority to consider the results "as part of their duty to keep housing conditions under review".
Mr Javid added: "If necessary I will not hesitate to use this power, which could lead to enforcement action being taken against a landlord if a fire risk is not dealt with.
"I do hope it will not come to that."
He also said he was considering naming and shaming those councils and housing associations who had failed to provide samples for testing.
The communities secretary said no council had yet to come to him to request additional funding to meet fire safety checks.
Sir Martin Moore Bick is continuing to prepare to chair an inquiry into the tragic fire in West London last month which has killed at least 80 people.
Despite criticism from residents and politicians that he is out of touch, ministers insist he will continue the probe.
Last night furious locals demanded the new council leader Elizabeth Campbell resign from her post - as soon as she was sworn in.
In a four-hour meeting angry residents heckled the councillors and demanded they stand down for their role in the aftermath of the fire - and for failing to listen to their concerns beforehand.
The communities secretary also said today that 10 families have moved into new temporary accommodation, but all 153 households had been offered it.
Shadow housing minister John Healey claimed, however, that some of them had been offered homes with damp and leaks, or too few bedrooms to accommodate them.
And he claimed that he was "still getting reports of residents told they will be made intentionally homeless if they do not accept an offer", despite the government's insistence that this would not be the case.
Mr Javid said that the suspected death toll remained at 80 - despite concerns that the true number could be much higher.
In an attempt to reassure them, he said: "I know that some local residents remain concerned that the number of people in the tower on the night have been underestimated. I continue to urge anyone with further information to come forward.
"I have been very clear, we don’t mind if those affected were subletting or have immigration issues. All we care about is getting to the truth.";
But earlier today Tottenham MP David Lammy, who lost a friend in the fire, told the BBC today that he had to be "extra vigilant" to ensure another cover-up like Hillsborough did not take place.
He said: "People knew their neighbours in this very tight knit community. They don’t recognise the number of 80.
"There have been situations like this in the past, Hillsborough is the one we all remember, most recently, and it has taken 30 years for the truth to come out.
"Many of the folk down there, including me, are worried."
But BBC host Andrew Neil claimed he had "no evidence" for the claims and he was "playing politics with a really tragic situation".