Cabinet minister defends Labour MP Jas Athwal who rents out ant infested flats

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Cabinet minister Lucy Powell has insisted that a Labour MP who rents out properties with black mould and ant infestations should not resign.

The Leader of the House defended Jas Athwal, who was leader of Redbridge Council before being elected as the MP for Ilford South at the last election.

Mr Athwal has described himself as “furious” after the appalling state of flats he rents out in east London was revealed which also included fire alarms hanging off the ceilings and a washing machine dumped next to a set of stairs.

In one block of seven flats the MP owns almost half the tenants claimed they had to regularly clean their bathroom ceilings to remove mould.

Mr Athwal has the largest landlord portfolio of any MP in Parliament and has been forced to admit that his own properties do not have the correct licences under the scheme he had introduced as leader of Redbridge Council.

Ms Powell appeared on Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Sir Trevor Phillips this morning and defended the MP who is facing calls to quit less than two months after being elected into parliament.

Sir Trevor pointed out that not far from where Ms Powell was speaking to him in Salford a toddler Awaab Ishak died in Rochdale from respiratory conditions caused by mould.

He pointed out that deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, who is in charge of housing and communities, had said that “there is no excuse to let private landlords off the hook” for poor conditions and asked what the party intended to do with Mr Athwal.

But Ms Powell defended the MP saying: “As I understand it he himself is furious because he didn’t know this is happening in his housing stock and he is taking immediate steps to put that right and that is absolutely as it should be.

She said that the party would be bringign forward the Renters Reform Bill to “tackle the scourge of bad landlords”.

When Sir Trevor pressed her on the fact that if it was a Tory MP who had rented out properties in that condition she would have taken a different line, she responded: “I take at face value what he said in the last few days, he has absolutely got to put that right and that is why he sacked the managing agent.”

As council leader Mr Athwal had previously Tweeted an article about a local landlord being fined she said: “Rogue landlords, we are coming for you.”

But critics claimed that Athwal’s tenants were living under a culture of fear.

Tory London Assembly member said: “I worry that there are people who are Jas Athwal’s tenants who are now frightened to speak for fear of being evicted.”

“We’ve heard this time and time again about how the threat of eviction is used to excuse poor maintenance of properties.”

He added: "Here we have a situation where somebody who is the leader of Redbridge Council, which introduced a licensing scheme, which he told everybody else to sign up to, and he didn't do it himself."