A HEREFORD MP has outlined the reasons why he voted against an amendment to make homes ‘fit for human habitation’ in light of housing quality being thrown into sharp focus following last week’s horrendous tower block fire in London.

In a post that was widely shared on social media, Jesse Norman was listed as one of 72 'landlord' MPs who, in 2016, voted against the Labour amendment to the Housing and Planning Act aimed at private landlords.

Many articles have been written about the vote in light of the Grenfell Tower blaze which police said this week may have been responsible for the deaths of 79 people.

As the amendment would have targeted private landlords, the Independent has reported it would have had no effect on Grenfell tower which is managed by the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation, on behalf of the council.

However, despite there being no link, the blaze has thrown the quality of social housing into the spotlight – which is one of the reasons articles on last year’s vote are being circulated again online.

Jesse Norman – who was re-elected MP for Hereford and South Herefordshire with a majority of 15,013 earlier this month – has faced criticism for being one of the Conservative ‘landlord’ MPs who voted against the amendment.

Outlining why he took the decision, he said: "I am afraid the suggestion being made here is highly misleading. Every MP across the House of Commons wants rented accommodation to be of good quality and wide availability.

"In this case, the relevant amendment to the Housing and Planning Bill was debated in 2016 in Parliament, and in the opinion of ministers as advised would have created unnecessary regulation and cost, would have deterred investment and would have pushed up rents for tenants.

"As the minister said at the time, 'We believe that all homes should be of a decent standard, and that all tenants should have a safe place in which to live regardless of tenure, but local authorities already have strong and effective powers to deal with poor quality and unsafe accommodation, and we expect them to use them.'

"As for being a so-called 'Landlord MP', my wife and I have a flat which we have let out for rental from time to time. It had no bearing on the vote."