Four years after Grenfell, why do high-rise flats still have dangerous cladding?

Labour will try to shame the government in the Commons today: John Rentoul looks at the facts

The Grenfell tower fire in June 2017 horrified the nation, but Labour warns it could still happen again (Getty)

On the third anniversary last June of the Grenfell tower fire, Mike Amesbury, the shadow housing minister, castigated the government for failing to meet its target of removing all unsafe cladding from high-rise blocks. Writing in The Independent, he said: “Grenfell lifted a curtain on inequality in our country. Yet three years on, the scale of government failure is stark.”  

Another eight months on and the target still hasn’t been reached, so Labour will try to keep up the pressure on the government with an opposition day debate in the House of Commons this afternoon.  

The Labour motion calls for work on the remaining buildings to start immediately, and for the funds to be obtained by “pursuing those responsible for the cladding crisis”.