The Tories should be insensible with shame over a lack of funds for fire safety in our homes

Around the time of the 2016 spring budget, I wrote about a first-time buyer who had taken advantage of the Conservatives’ help to buy scheme. Ask most people to imagine such a homebuyer and you’d likely imagine a young professional couple, excitedly exchanging keys and shuffling Dulux swatches, earmarking the boxroom as an office, or maybe a nursery. You might not expect the first-time buyer to be in her sixties and married to a Tory MP who already owns property.

This seems to be a theme in Tory policy on housing: crash the cymbals together, and announce you will fix the housing crisis as you pump in a bit of cash that gives a small discount to the sort of people who would have bought anyway, while also artificially inflating house prices, thereby worsening the crisis.

This week’s budget was no different: a cut in stamp duty up to the value of £300,000 for first-time buyers. That’s £5,000, tops, for people in a secure enough situation to save tens of thousands of pounds. And – surprise! – the Office for Budget Responsibility has pointed out that the econo-wizards in the Treasury have again dreamed up a policy that will raise house prices, so in essence the stamp duty doesn’t constitute a saving at all, and the main beneficiaries will be existing homeowners creaming off even greater profits on their bricks and mortar.

The Conservatives are still building fewer socially rented homes than Labour were 10 years ago, before the crash. The shift of focus from traditional council rents to “affordable housing” has been a malicious farce. Defining “affordable” as 80% of market rate reveals a callous disregard for those losing out in the housing crisis.

A fleeting mention of Grenfell Tower and a promise of a cash injection for the London borough of Kensington and Chelsea is better than nothing, although still not sufficient to repair lives and the community, and many have questioned why the funds are being directed through the council, given its ineptitude and callousness.

Meanwhile, across the country, thousands of people live in fear of experiencing a similar fate to the families and loved ones killed in that shameful inferno. Many local authorities, limping by and hit by swingeing budget cuts, are desperate for the government to step in and fund sprinkler systems and fire safety measures for blocks that need them.

Hammond’s response? No commitment, no earmarking of funds in the budget, no reassurance for families terrified of what could happen each time they tuck their children into bed.

Councils should “contact the Treasury”, said Spreadsheet Phil, with no detail of what would come of such approaches if local authorities have already exhausted all possible funding options.

The continued lack of investment in housing and local authorities has led to a situation where too many of us fear, not without warrant, that we are not safe in our homes.

A government should prioritise safety and has the power to divert funds to preserve life. The fact the sixth richest economy in the world hasn’t done so, and seemingly won’t, should make anyone with the capacity for empathy insensible with rage and shame. Perhaps that is the Conservatives’ problem.

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