MPs have hit out at the government’s handling of the cladding scandal and laid bare the crisis facing leaseholders in their constituencies during an impassioned debate in Parliament today.

Labour MP Hilary Benn, who hosted the debate, told of leaseholders in Leeds who are paying £670 a month on top of their mortgage and service charges to pay for a “waking watch” scheme as a result of fire safety risks in their block.

Labour MP for Tottenham David Lammy said that 432 flat owners in his constituency cannot get a mortgage or remortgage because of dangerous cladding.

He asked Benn: “Is it [your] view that this is entirely unacceptable because fire regulations and building regulations are rightly the responsibility of government and it is the government who should step in to support these individuals?”, to which Benn concurred.

Conservative MP for Hendon Matthew Offord said that in Colindale, within his constituency, 1,087 properties in the Pulse in development now deemed to be unsafe had been signed off as meeting fire safety standards by the local authority as recently as 2017.

He said: “Assurances from building regulations simply were not worth the paper they were written on.”

Labour MP for Slough Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi said some of his constituents were facing “sleepless nights, fearing bankruptcy and homelessness” over the cost of replacing dangerous cladding not covered by the government’s ACM [Aluminium composite material] fund and bills for putting right other risks such as a lack of fire breaks.

Benn said that some leaseholders were even facing problems with flats in blocks that have not been deemed unsafe.

He said: “When they try and sell the flat the mortgage company says ‘where is the certificate to say that the property complies with the new regulations’ that quite properly the government has put in place, and if they can’t produce it the property is worthless and it becomes unsellable.”

He called on the government to make good on its promise that leaseholders should not have to foot the cost of replacing cladding and ensure that those with other types of dangerous cladding not included in the ACM fund were also covered.

He said: “The chief fire officer of West Yorkshire put it to me this week on Monday, and I quote:  ‘It is our view that the there is no difference between unsafe ACM cladding and unsafe HPL [high pressure laminate] cladding.

“So why is the government seeking to distinguish between the two when it comes to the position of leaseholders? and I say to the minister I think that position is completely unsustainable.”