MARIA Miller has voted against an amendment to the Fire Safety Bill that would have protected residents from paying for work to make their buildings safe.

The Basingstoke MP voted alongside the government on Monday to oppose the amendment, which aimed to protect leaseholders from paying for remedial works after the buildings failed fire safety checks.

Seven buildings in Basingstoke, at Crown Heights and Victory Hill, have failed checks, with new fire alarms being installed and 24/7 fire patrols in place.

The amendment was tabled by Conservative MPs Stephen McPartland and Royston Smith, who say that the Bill is crucial to stopping leaseholders receiving bills of tens of thousands of pounds for works to make the buildings safe. They say leaseholders, through no fault of their own, are being given just weeks to pay.

Mrs Miller said in a previous debate in Parliament that she would “pause” her support for the amendment, saying that she had accepted reassurances from the government that the Fire Safety Bill was not the right place for such assurances.

She said: “In the UK it should not be high risk to buy a home in a block of flats built and marketed by a reputable house builder under strict building control regimes, only to find that the professional and regulatory checks have been a fiction. That is a situation in which hundreds of my constituents find themselves.

“It is clear from today’s debate that no one wants residents to pay for this disgraceful behaviour, that there cannot be a blank cheque from Government, and that those who caused the problem have to pay for the works that are needed.”

She added that she “accept[ed] the argument” of neighbour MP and government minister Kit Malthouse, who argued that the best place for debate on shielding leaseholders from large costs is not this piece of legislation, and in fact is the Building Safety Bill.

The amendment failed by 322 votes to 253, with 33 Conservative MPs voting against their own party.

The Bill is now in what's known as Parliamentary ping pong, where the House of Lords insists on changes to the Bill before it gives it its support, whilst the Commons is unwilling to make these changes.