Housebuilder Persimmon is understood to have sought legal advice from a QC over the government’s threat to stop housebuilders from trading if they don’t pay into a “voluntary” fire safety repair fund.

The housebuilder declined to comment after the Times reported on Saturday that Lord Pannick QC had advised it that housing secretary Michael Gove is acting unlawfully in threatening builders over an estimated £4bn bill for repairs to mid-rise blocks of between 11-18 metres in height.

…