Phil Spencer has ruffled feathers at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, which has responded to his criticisms of its response to the leasehold cladding scandal.

These were made within our story yesterday ‘TV star calls on government to fix the growing leaseholder cladding scandal’, in which the Channel 4 presenter and MoveIQ founder claimed that “unless action is taken immediately people who bought into these government backed affordable housing schemes will be bankrupted to cover costs of removal”.

An MHCLG spokesperson contacted us to say: “Making sure residents are safe and feel safe in their homes is a Government priority which is why we are providing £1.6bn to speed up the removal of unsafe cladding and protect leaseholders from significant remediation costs.

“Government funding should not be the only means of funding remediation costs – building owners should meet these costs without passing them on to leaseholders wherever possible.

“They also have a legal responsibility to ensure their buildings and residents are safe, and must ensure that any remaining buildings have started remediation works before the end of this year. We are seeing progress – remediation has been completed or is under way in more than 70% of buildings with ACM cladding.”

MHCLG also wants to point out that remediation is now complete or under way in more than 70% of buildings with ACM cladding – rising to above 90% in the social housing sector.