The government has announced today that it is to spend £200m to fund the removal of unsafe aluminium composite cladding (ACM) on private sector residential tower blocks.

Ministers have been under pressure to get a grip on the removal programme in the wake of the Grenfell fire two years ago after it emerged that around 170 high-rise towers in the private sector still had dangerous material present, versus only 23 in the public sector.

James Brokenshire, the communities secretary, said he was “calling time on reckless building owners who have refused to take action”.