Barratt and Persimmon have become the first housebuilders to say they will sign the government’s cladding contract, after Michael Gove rowed back on key conditions in the wake of detailed talks with developers.

The UK’s largest and most profitable housebuilders respectively have both indicated they intend to sign the contract once they have had time to review it fully. The contract is the legal documentation underlying the £2.5bn “cladding pledge” signed by 49 housebuilders last year, which commits them to repair fire safety defects on all buildings built by them going back 30 years.

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