Companies involved in Grenfell to be barred from public contracts, says Starmer

Keir Starmer apologised to the victims of Grenfell and the bereaved, and said the failings that led to the disaster could be traced back more than 30 years. Photograph: PRU/AFP/Getty Images

Companies condemned in the Grenfell Tower inquiry will no longer be considered for public contracts, Keir Starmer has said as the prime minister apologised for decades of state failures uncovered by the inquiry.

In a sombre statement to the Commons, Starmer said action over contracts would be one of the first steps in response to the final report chaired by Sir Martin Moore-Bick into the 2017 disaster.