‘I live in a flammable box’: cladding scandal threatens to overshadow Johnson’s levelling up agenda

‘I live in a flammable box’: cladding scandal threatens to overshadow Johnson’s levelling up agenda:

As delegates gather in Manchester, furious local victims of the Grenfell Tower fallout call them to account

Anastasia Frost often wonders why she listened to the Tories when they talked about aspiration, the benefits of home ownership and levelling up. She lives in a two-bedroom flat in the Ancoats area of Manchester with her husband and their 11-week-old son. “We put trust in this system. We were told you must buy a flat, you must get on the property ladder, but what good is it really?” she says.

The Frosts spent 10 years saving up and finally were able to buy their home in 2015. But then, in 2017, came the Grenfell Tower disaster and, more than four years on, as they wait for their block to be declared safe – if it ever is – their home is worth nothing.

Continue reading…

from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3D8mFRO
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/3mj46TZ