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.
It comes after a leading member of Grenfell United, which represents survivors and bereaved family members, told the Guardian this week that companies found at fault should no longer receive public contracts.
About £250m in public deals have been made in the past five years with corporations involved in the high-rise’s refurbishment, according to searches of public contracts by the outsourcing data firm Tussell for the Guardian.
They include companies currently or formerly owned by Saint-Gobain, which made the combustible Celotex insulation used on the tower, and Rydon, the main contractor for the works.
“I can tell the house today that this government will write to all companies found by the inquiry to be part of these horrific failings as the first step to stopping them being awarded government contracts,” Starmer told MPs on Wednesday, saying the report would be fully debated soon.
While stressing that he would support any legal moves against those found responsible, Starmer said it was vital to “not do or say anything that could compromise any future prosecution, because the greatest injustice of all would be for the victims and all those affected not to get the justice that they deserve”.
In his apology, which was echoed by the opposition leader, Rishi Sunak, Starmer said the failings went as far back as a 1991 fire in the Knowsley Heights block in Merseyside, where cladding was found to have played a role.
On Grenfell, Starmer said: “The simple truth is that the deaths that occurred were all avoidable and that those who lived in the tower were badly failed over a number of years and in a number of different ways by, as the report lays out in full, just about every institution responsible for ensuring their safety.”
While saying that “words can begin to lose their meaning” in the face of such horror for victims and relatives, Starmer said he wanted to apologise “on behalf of the British state to each and every one of you, and indeed to all of the families affected by this tragedy”.
He went on: “It should never have happened. The country failed to discharge its most fundamental duty – to protect you and your loved ones, the people that we are here to serve. And I am deeply sorry. I also want to express my admiration for the strength it must have taken to relive these events when giving your evidence to the inquiry.
“Today is a long-awaited day of truth, but it must now lead to a day of justice, justice for the victims and the families.”
Saying the government would respond to the inquiry’s recommendations in full within six months, Starmer promised to speed up the “far, far too slow” process of removing unsafe cladding from other buildings.
Responding for the Conservatives, Sunak said the report laid bare “a damning indictment of over 30 years of successive state failures” and promised to support the government in efforts to remove cladding.
Noting that Theresa May had apologised as prime minister, Sunak said he shared those words, adding: “Still, I think today however demands more.”
He said: “As a prime minister, current or former, you are a custodian of the state and its failures, whether on your watch or not, are something that you feel deeply. And to that end I want to extend my deepest apologies to the families and victims of the Grenfell Tower tragedy. The state let you down, and it must never do so again.”
This week Celotex said it and Saint-Gobain wished to “reaffirm their deepest sympathies to everyone affected by the devastating tragedy at Grenfell Tower,” adding: “Independent safety tests commissioned after the review showed the system described in Celotex RS5000 marketing literature met relevant safety criteria.”
Rydon did not respond to a request for comment.
