I’m backing a Lib Dem – will you?

After last Monday’s excess of anti-Tory rage I thought I should try on something a little less partisan. So, this week I shall be defending Liam Fox – ha, as if. I couldn’t even type that with a straight face.

However, in this post I am asking your support for a Private Members Bill put forward by a Lib Dem MP. It’s going to be a very simple post, because this is a very simple Bill. The Fire Safety (Protection of Tenants) Bill 2010-11, sponsored by Adrian Sanders MP, is a Bill to require landlords to provide smoke alarms in rented accommodation.

You might have thought that was already the law: it isn’t. There is some legal protection for tenants in houses of multiple occupation (HMOs), but it doesn’t necessarily require a fire alarm system. Current building regulations require the installation of smoke alarms in all new dwellings built since 2000 (plus adaptations and extensions). If you’re in an older building than that, it’s up to your landlord.

Smoke alarms are, of course, entirely unsexy. They look like massive aspirin. They go off when you’ve burnt the toast and you have to flap a tea-towel at them. They don’t prevent fires or put fires out or rescue people from fires – that’s what firefighters do. As a member of Greater Manchester Fire Authority I’ve been privileged to meet a few firefighters, and while I wouldn’t objectify them by calling them sexy, I will point out that one of them showed me how to rip the passenger door off a car, which is not something to flap a tea-towel at. All smoke alarms do is go BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP.

But sometimes a beep is more than just a beep. An independent report has shown that 2.5 million smoke alarms installed nationally contributed significantly to a 57% reduction in accidental fire deaths between 2000/2 and 2005/7. It also showed that the initiative resulted in 13,670 fewer fires and 888 fewer non-fatal fire casualties per year. That giant aspirin on your ceiling is a beeping lifesaver.