120 tower blocks so far have combustible cladding, PM says

A total of 120 tower blocks across 37 local authority areas in England have failed fire safety tests and have combustible cladding so far, Theresa May has said.

100 per cent of the cladding samples tested have been found to be combustible, May announced. She has urged councils and housing associations to ‘get on’ with fire safety checks without waiting for final results.

Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, asked May in the House of Commons for a ‘categorical’ answer on whether the cladding is legal for high-rises, and whether that used on Grenfell Tower was legal.

She replied: “My understanding is that this particular cladding was not compliant with the building regulations. It is not just a question of what laws you have. It is how those are being applied. We have the building regulations about compliant materials. The question is why we have seen in local authority area after local authority area materials being put up that appear not to comply with those building regulations. That is what we need to get to the bottom of.”

Fears of cladding have also spread to student halls of residence, with around 30 students at Nottingham Trent University being evacuated after tests showed that three of seven blocks in the complex had the same cladding as Grenfell Tower.