The government has been asked to set up a multibillion-pound fund to the replace cladding

Flammable cladding is the “biggest safety scandal in modern building history” and more than half a million people live in tall properties in danger of burning down, according to research seen by The Times.

One in four large residential developments has some form of unsafe cladding or insulation, according to safety tests since the Grenfell fire, the study suggests. In June 2017, 72 people died when fire broke out at the block of flats in west London, which had recently been fitted with cladding that was blamed for the spread of the fire.

Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, are under pressure to help hundreds of thousands of flat owners stuck in properties they cannot sell or mortgage because the government has deemed