• Truss must block Chris Chope from joining partygate inquiry
• Action needed now to address cladding concerns

Truss must block Chris Chope from joining Partygate inquiry

The Liberal Democrats have called on Liz Truss to block Conservative MP Christopher Chope from being appointed to the privileges committee leading the Partygate inquiry, after reports he is being nominated by Boris Johnson’s government.

Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse, who brought in the Private Members’ Bill to ban upskirting which Chris Chope initially blocked, said:

Chris Chope’s lack of respect for MPs trying to protect women from upskirting shows the contempt he has for Parliament. There is no way he should be allowed anywhere near this committee.

If he is put forward, Liz Truss must act to block his appointment immediately.

Action needed now to address cladding concerns

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have raised serious concerns after a building in Cardiff Bay affecting by the building safety scandal has been rocked by two fires in the space of a month.

The Victoria Wharf development saw a fire this weekend that spread between two balconies. In August, another balcony had set alight.

Although no one was hurt in either incident and it is not yet clear whether the incidents are linked to faulty building materials, the fires have reignited concerns that action is not being taken fast enough to remediate buildings affected.

Leader of Cardiff Liberal Democrats, Cllr Rhys Taylor has been campaigning over the last year for the Welsh Government to take faster and deeper action on the crisis and visited the site of the fire today stating:

This is the second fire in the space of a month in a building in Cardiff Bay hit by the building safety scandal.

Residents affected by this scandal, throughout Cardiff and more widely in Swansea and other places are scared, tired and frustrated with the lack of action by the Welsh Labour Government and from property developers.

People are paying thousands upon thousands of pounds a year for a ‘waking watch’ making sure fires don’t break out in their buildings, living and sleeping in fear of the worse.

They are having to pay for insurance that isn’t keeping them safe. Many of these buildings are only a few minutes walk away from the Senedd, yet there is a striking indifference and lack of urgency from the Welsh Government on this massive injustice.

The Welsh Liberal Democrats are saying alongside cladding and building safety campaigners that developers have had long enough, it’s time that the Welsh Government stopped talking and take serious action to end this crisis.