Summary of the day …
The Grenfell Tower disaster was the result of “decades of failure” by central government to stop the spread of combustible cladding combined with the “systematic dishonesty” of multimillion-dollar companies whose products spread the fire that killed 72 people, a seven-year public inquiry has found
In a 1,700-page report that apportions blame for the 2017 tragedy widely, Sir Martin Moore-Bick, the chair of the inquiry, found that three firms – Arconic, Kingspan and Celotex – “engaged in deliberate and sustained strategies to … mislead the market”
He also found the architects Studio E, the builders Rydon and Harley Facades and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea’s building control department all bore responsibility for the blaze
He said that all of the deaths were avoidable and the victims were badly failed
Keir Starmer has said the country failed its most fundamental duty to protect those affected by the Grenfell Tower fire as he offered an apology, and said that victims of the fire must feel that they are constantly “always one step away from another betrayal”
Opposition leader and former prime minister Rishi Sunak also offered an apology
Companies condemned in the Grenfell Tower inquiry will no longer be considered for public contracts, the prime minister said, one of the first steps in response to the final report. The move 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
At a press conference in west London, the campaign group demanded that Starmer implement the recommendations of the report in full
Victims of the Grenfell Tower disaster face a wait of at least three years to find out if anyone will be convicted for the failings that led to the fire. Police already suspected before the report was published that the fire and deaths were the result of criminal acts. The Metropolitan police, which has been investigating the disaster, justified the further delay, saying: “We have one chance to get our investigation right”
You can read the prime minister’s statement in full here. The full Grenfell Tower inquiry phase 2 report can be found here. All of our Grenfell Tower inquiry coverage can be found here.
Matt Wrack, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union has said that he thinks the outcome of the inquiry will be “shocking” to people when they read it.
PA Media reports that speaking at the Grenfell Memorial Wall in west London, Wrack said:
That will be shocking to people reading press reports about the inquiry and its findings, that for decades we’ve had ministers responsible for building safety, for fire safety policy, and prime ministers who have overseen an agenda determined to get rid of regulations, and those regulations were the means by which buildings were kept safe for the people living in them.
It is shocking to hear that we’ve had governments who have overseen the deregulation and turning buildings into unsafe places to live.
He continued:
Obviously, we all hope that there will never be another Grenfell, but the facts, the statistics, show that there are thousands of buildings where there remain systems of unsafe cladding, or there remain other building or fire safety defects that have not been addressed.
Of those identified in England, only about half have had any work done on them, half of those buildings have had no remediation work whatsoever done.
Taoiseach Simon Harris has commented on the Grenfell Tower inquiry final report, saying that he will “reflect on it with my officials to see if there are any learnings for Ireland.”
Irish insulation company Kingspan were named in the report.
PA Media report Harris said:
I want to obviously, again, remember those who died in the Grenfell tragedy. I think of their families today and think how painful today must be. I’m also conscious that they would have waited a very long time for this final report.
I will take the time to read it, to reflect on it with my officials to see if there are any learnings for Ireland, and I would obviously encourage any company referenced in the report to do likewise, to reflect fully on those findings, and once I’ve done that I will give a more considered response.
Peter Apps, contributing editor at Inside Housing and the author of Show Me the Bodies: How We Let Grenfell Happen, has written for the Guardian today:
Look to government; look to ministers who no longer saw regulating industry as a priority. Ministers, in fact, who were intensely pushing the opposite agenda: they wanted economic growth and they wanted the state to get out of the way of industry’s capacity to deliver it. Regulation was red tape and needed to be removed, not imposed.
Eric Pickles, secretary of state during the key period in the early 2010s, angrily insisted when questioned back in 2022 that building regulations relating to fire safety were exempt from this push – and that he would never have allowed a deregulatory agenda to compromise life safety.
But the report says that evidence was “flatly contradicted by that of his officials and the contemporaneous documents”, which made it abundantly clear that the government believed the construction sector should be left out of the bothersome reach of meddling bureaucrats and should be allowed to forge its own, innovative path.
Trapped in this climate, officials did not recommend tougher regulations, even when they knew them to be necessary, because they realised it was not what ministers wanted to hear. This abdication of responsibility by the state is ghoulishly encapsulated by the government paying scientists at a private laboratory to monitor the risk from real world fires, but barring them from making policy recommendations which would have resulted in tougher regulation, a state of affairs the inquiry said “epitomised what had gone wrong”.
Read more of Peter App’s opinion piece here: Grenfell is simply explained: firms chased profits, ministers sat on their hands, innocents paid with their lives
Shah Aghlani also spoke at the press conference held by Grenfell Next of Kin. He said that he found it inexplicable that there had not already been prosecutions as a result of the fire.
He said “To me, I was looking at the tower, and I was telling myself all the evidence is before your eyes.”
He suggested that one of the reasons that unsafe cladding was still on buildings in the UK seven years after the Grenfell Tower fire was because there had been no criminal prosecutions. “[Property developers] are not afraid,” he said. “If we had rightful prosecution in hand, these things won’t happen.”
Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner has added her own words to Keir Starmer’s earlier apology. She posted a clip of Starmer speaking in parliament to social media, and wrote:
We remember the 72 innocent lives lost in the Grenfell Tower tragedy. My thoughts are with the bereaved families, the survivors and residents in the immediate community. As Keir Starmer said, on behalf of the British state we apologise to each and every one of them.
Rayner continued “The Grenfell community has campaigned tirelessly to push for justice and change. My promise to them is to work tirelessly, with urgency and care, to deliver a stronger culture of safety across the system from top to bottom.”
In May, PA Media reports, the Metropolitan police said its inquiry into the fire had generated 27,000 lines of inquiry and more than 12,000 witness statements.
A total of 19 companies and organisations were under investigation for potential criminal offences, along with 58 individuals, and more than 300 hours of interviews had taken place.
Speaking outside Scotland Yard today, Metropolitan police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Cundy said “I cannot imagine the impact of such a long criminal investigation and public inquiry … but I’ve spoken to many [survivors and the bereaved] at different times over the last seven years, they have my personal commitment, the commitment of the Metropoliatn police, that we will do everything that we can to secure justice for those who died.”
Cundy said the criminal investigation could not use the inquiry’s final report as evidence. “We have followed all the evidence, but because of the different legal arrangements, the criminal investigation cannot simply use the inquiry’s final report as evidence,” he said. “But it is a very, very significant document
Hisam Choucair, who lost six family members in the Grenfell Tower fire, said watching witnesses “laugh” while giving evidence during the inquiry “burns me inside”.
PA Media reports he told a briefing given by members of a support group for the next of kin in central London that “This inquiry was forced on us. It’s delayed the justice my family deserves.”
Earlier Elizabeth Campbell, leader of Kensington and Chelsea council, issued an open letter in which she said the council would “fully accept the findings” of the Grenfell Tower report, which she described as “a withering critique of a system broken from top to bottom.”
The letter in part says:
On behalf of the Council, I apologise unreservedly and with all my heart to you, and to the local community, for our failure to listen to residents and to protect them. Put simply, we could, and should, have done more to keep people safe in their homes and to care for all of our residents in the aftermath of the fire.
You have had to wait a long time for answers, and I hope the publication of this report is an important step forward in the ongoing search for justice … It is crystal clear – profits were put before people, clear warning signs were ignored, and Grenfell was wholly avoidable, with failure at every single level.
The council’s role will never be diluted by the large number of companies and organisations involved. We failed to keep people safe before and during the refurbishment and we failed to treat people with humanity and care in the aftermath. As a public authority, our primary concern should always be our residents and never our own reputation. The organisation I lead owes it to every single person who lost their lives to learn the lessons, change, and improve.
Apsana Begum, who is currently sitting as the independent MP for Poplar and Limehouse while suspended from the Labour party, has said that companies blamed in the Greenfell Tower inquiry report should be suspended from obtaining government contracts immediately.
She posted to social media to say “Whilst criminal prosecutions over Grenfell may follow, companies held responsible by the Inquiry should be banned from receiving public contracts, immediately. Otherwise the risks continue, with unsafe buildings continuing to be built, as we know too well in Poplar and Limehouse.”
Whilst criminal prosecutions over Grenfell may follow, companies held responsible by the Inquiry should be banned from receiving public contracts, immediately.
— Apsana Begum MP (@ApsanaBegumMP) September 4, 2024
Otherwise the risks continue, with unsafe buildings continuing to be built, as we know too well in Poplar & Limehouse.
Earlier, prime minister Keir Starmer said in parliament that companies condemned in the Grenfell Tower inquiry will no longer be considered for public contracts as one of the first steps in response to the final report chaired by Sir Martin Moore-Bick into the 2017 disaster.
“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.
A man whose sister was killed in the Grenfell Tower tragedy has said the inquiry has delayed the justice owed to him and other bereaved families.
“No one has asked me if I wanted this inquiry,” Karim Khalloufi, whose sister Khadija was among the 72 who died, told a press conference in central London.
“Maybe I will die without having justice,” he added at the briefing given by members of a support group for the next of kin of some the 72 people killed in the tower block blaze in 2017.
According to PA Media, another victim’s relative told the event at the Royal Lancaster London hotel he wanted manslaughter charges to be brought, adding “nothing else will do”.
The Crown Prosecution Service has said decisions on potential criminal prosecutions are not expected for another two years.
Independent MP and former Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell has reminded parliament that he was previously castigated for describing the events at Grenfell as “social murder”, and says Sir Martin Moore-Bick’s “report defines it was social murder”.
He asks the prime minister when parliament will be able to have the promised debate on the report, rather than the limited opportunity to put questions to the prime minister offered today, and what information will be provided. He asks for constituency level data on progress with removing dangerous cladding from buildings.
Prime minister Keir Starmer replies:
On the question of the debate, I do think it is really important that as much information is made available as possible, and that we’re able to deal with the questions that members have raised, which is why we’ll look at the date of that debate.
I want it to be as quickly as possible, but I don’t want to be so quick that members will be frustrated because they will rightly want information or assurances that need a little bit of working through.
That is the last question today in parliament on the Grenfell Tower inquiry report.
Sir Martin Moore-Bick, the chair of the inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire that killed 72 people in 2017, said all of the deaths were avoidable and added that the victims had been badly failed. Here is a clip from his statement:
The government has published Keir Starmer’s statement on Grenfell Tower Inquiry final report in full. Here is the key passage where the prime minister offered an apology, saying:
I want to start with an apology on behalf of the British state to each and every one of you and indeed to all the families affected by this tragedy. It should never have happened. The country failed to discharge its most fundamental duty to protect you and your loved ones, the people we are here to serve, Aand I am deeply sorry.
I also want to express my admiration for the strength it must have taken to relive those events when giving your evidence to this Inquiry. And indeed, to see written down today the circumstances that led to the deaths of your loved ones. After all you have been through, you may feel you are always just one step away from another betrayal. I get that – and I know I cannot change that with just words today.
Starmer then went on to quote one of the panel members who also spoke this morning when the report was published, Ali Akbor, who said “What is needed is for those with responsibility for building safety to reflect and to treat Grenfell as a touchstone in all that they do in the future.”
The prime minister then said “Mr Speaker, I consider myself responsible for building safety. And that is exactly what I will do. And what I will demand of this government.”
You can read the prime minister’s statement in full here. The full Grenfell Tower inquiry phase 2 report can be found here.
Independent MP Zarah Sultana has said that “as chair of the fire brigades union parliamentary group, I’d like to put on record my admiration for the heroic bravery of firefighters who attended that night. The FBU has long said that deregulation and corporate greed was at fault for this catastrophe, and this report vindicates that.”
She asked Keir Starmer if he agees. Starmer says “I can only begin to imagine what it must have been like to have been confronted with the situation they were confronted with, and to deal with the circumstances that they had to deal with. And time and again, our first responders are asked by us rightly to do very challenging things. They do it, and we should thank them for doing it.”
He sidesteps whether he agrees with the FBU on the root cause of the disaster. Earlier the union’s general secretary Matt Wrack said:
The FBU has always argued that the fire was the result of decades of failure by central government to regulate the building industry – the prioritisation of private profit over human life.
This report completely vindicates that position, demonstrating beyond doubt that an agenda of deregulation cost lives.
Construction companies gamed the system to maximise their profits. A system of semi-privatised building control put commercial interests ahead of regulatory duties.
Kit Malthouse, who served for a brief period of time as minister of state for Housing and Planning between 2018 and 2019, has recommended to the prime minister that “one of the things that really did sharpen our minds and make the government machine jump to it was the prospect of external scrutiny.”
He suggested a specific subcommittee be formed to monitor government progress on the recommendations in the report. He said “while an annual debate will, I know, be welcome, as I say, I just don’t think it’s going to give the sense of urgency that’s required so that we can address these, these issues swiftly.”
Malthouse added “one of the things I learned in my interactions with Grenfell bereaved and survivors during my time as housing minister was that their pain was compounded by their frustration at the pace of change, even some years after the fire, and it was a frustration I shared as we tried to make progress on building safety issues.”
The independent MP for Islington North, and former Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn has said “there are so many lesson to be learned from Grenfell” and called for an end to “local government internal market” and an endless culture of sub-contracting, saying:
Those of us that have been on the silent walks for Grenfell every year since it happened and visited many times, fully understand the strength of feeling and the anger, the deep anger, in the community at this needless loss of life brought about by a contract culture, deregulation, privatisation, ignorance, and, frankly, contempt for working class communities by many who should have done much more to protect and defend those people.
Thanking Sir Martin Moore-Bick for the report, Corbyn added “those needless deaths that happened at Grenfell will never go away and never be forgotten.”
He called on the prime minister to take action to ensure that cladding is not just removed from local authority housing but also “in the leasehold private sector buildings that many of our constituents live in where they are faced with enormous insurance costs because of the existence of dangerous cladding.”
Keir Starmer replies “The point about leaseholders is a really important point that we are taking action in relation to, whether it’s insurance or other issues.”
As part of the statement given this morning Sir Martin Moore-Bick read the names of the 72 victims of the Grenfell Tower fire. Here is the video clip:
The SNP’s leader at Westminster, Stephen Flynn, commended the prime minister for “the strength and power of his remarks”, and asked “Can he give a commitment that his government will continue to work constructively with the devolved governments to ensure the quick removal of all cladding right across these isles so that we don’t see a repeat of this horrible tragedy?”
Keir Starmer says yes, adding “It doesn’t matter where you live, whatever the government that you’re living under, the right to safe and secure housing is important, whoever you are, wherever you are.”
Labour MP Florence Eshalomi, who represents Vauxhall and Camberwell Green, has asked the prime minister to commit to “ensuring that this new government addresses that culture within our housing sector, which often treats social housing tenants as an afterthought.”
She says:
Grenfell laid bare the truth, the sad truth, around the stigma attached to social housing. It is the stigma I still remember when people made assumptions because I lived on a council estate.
It is the stigma attached to people who are actually from all walks of life, teachers, doctors, firefighters, people who pay their rent on time, but yet are treated with that disdain by housing providers.
And this report confirms that. It states that their voices were ignored and the safety in industries was ignored, delayed or disregarded at all levels of the government and housing sector. This is unforgivable.
Starmer says there needs to be a culture change, not just passing a law, because “otherwise we will be back here, in I don’t know how many years, having the same debate again.”
He picks up the point again after Labour MP Clive Efford speaks, citing repeated cases where he says “the state that should be on the side of ordinary people actually becomes the enemy of working class people.”
The prime minister replies:
I don’t know how many examples of injustice [there are] where people have not been listened to or disregarded. There’s been an injustice. And different prime ministers over the years have stood at this dispatch box and quite genuinely made commitments on the back of reports.
I don’t doubt that for a minute. I think every prime minister who stood here in relation to any of those injustices meant every word that he or she said in response, and yet it goes on.
So there is something more fundamental that we have to make time to consider, because I do not want to be back at this dispatch box – or any future prime minister at this dispatch box – having a version of the same discussion, which is injustice, people disregarded, not listened to, not taken seriously after the event, too long, too late, for people who desperately need justice, and that’s what I mean by turning a corner.
Victims' families hold press conference to respond to inquiry's report
Families of the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire are holding a press conference to respond to the publication of the inquiry’s report. You can watch a live feed here:
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Joe Powell, the MP for Kensington and Bayswater, where Grenfell Tower is located, has spoken. He said “the shameless merry go round of buck-passing that has happened for the last seven years since Grenfell must now come to an end.”
Leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey is next. He says that “criminality must be investigated, tried and punished, whether corporate manslaughter, fraud or misconduct in public office” and called on the prime minister to ensure resources were made available for that. He says there needs to be “greater urgency” to act on recommendations, and cites scandals like Hillsborough, the infected blood scandal and the Post Office Horizon IT scandal as “big, systemic issues that come up time and again” that must be tackled. He asks when legislation will be tabled for a “duty of candour on public officials” as requested by the bereaved and survivors of Grenfell.
Starmer says “It’s a long report. There are many recommendations, and I think it’s right that we take time to look through them, to consider how they can be complied with, and then come back to the house in relation to that, and then come back on an annual basis to assess the progress that we are making.”
He says legislation on a duty of candour was in the king’s speech, and will be brought forward shortly.
The Mother of the House, veteran Labour MP Diane Abbott, has been called to speak.
She asks Keir Starmer if he is aware “how painful it must be for the Grenfell community to have that tower looming over them for seven years, and for it have taken seven years to even reach this stage.”
She adds “He will be aware that the majority of the 72 that died were amongst the most marginalised and largely people of migrant heritage. Can he give an assurance that the bereaved will get all of the support they need going forward, including financial support? And can he also give an assurance that it will not take seven years to bring those responsible to justice.”
The prime minister replies “She’s absolutely right to focus on the community, on the bereaved, and decisions such as the tower, the memorial, whatever it may be, must be taken in consultation with the community. And I give that absolute commitment here that we will do that.”
The Speaker of the House has warned MPs to be cautious of what they say in order not to potentially prejudice future possible criminal prosecutions.
Keir Starmer has confirmed that there will be a fuller debate on the inquiry in due course.
Sunak says 'the state let you down' to Grenfell Tower victims and families, and offers apology
Former prime minister Rishi Sunak has offered an apology in the House of Commons to victims of the Grenfell Tower fire and their families.
He told MPs:
At the time, the former right honourable member for Maidenhead [prime minister Theresa May] apologised to the victims for what she described as failures at a local and national level in response to the fire. I share in those same words. Still, I think today however, demands more.
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.
The mission to ensure no such tragedy can ever happen again, is one I know the whole House supports, but more than that, it is part of a legacy we must create and maintain so that our actions meet the full meaning of our words.
Updated
Rishi Sunak has offered Conservative support for Keir Starmer’s government if it intends to take “proportionate and necessary measures to protect the public while protecting leaseholders from excessive costs.”
Sunak, who was prime minister between October 2022 and July 2024, and said there should be reforms along the lines of the report, including “a single regulator, a sole secretary of state responsible to end the fragmentation of Whitehall responsibilities and a new chief construction adviser.”
While parliament is hearing these statements in the House of Commons about the Grenfell Tower fire inquiry, former prime minister and former MP Theresa May, who had just recently remained as prime minister after the 2017 general election when the fire took place, has said in a statement national and local government, regulators and industry “must all acknowledge their part in the history and series of events that led to this tragedy.”
In 2018 May said her initial response to the Grenfell Tower fire was not good enough, saying she will “always regret” not meeting survivors of the blaze when she first visited the site.
Keir Starmer has said in the memory of the victims of Grenfell “we will deliver a generational shift in the safety and quality of housing for everyone in this country”. He says “we will bring the full power of government to bear on this task.”
Former prime minister and leader of the opposition Rishi Sunak is next to speak. He has started by paying tribute to the “strength and patience” of survivors and the families of victims. He said “their search for truth and justice is a noble one, and has our full support.”
Keir Starmer has said “a safe and decent home is a human right and a basic expectation, and the provision of that right should never be undermined by the reckless pursuit of greed.”
Starmer: 'this must be a moment of change' on unsafe cladding still on buildings
The prime minister has said work on fixing unsafe cladding on buildings has been too slow.
Keir Starmer has told the House of Commons:
There are still buildings today with unsafe cladding, and the speed at which this is being addressed is far, far too slow. We only have to look at the fire in Dagenham last week, a building that was still in the process of having its cladding removed.
So this must be a moment of change. We will take the necessary steps to speed this up.
We will be willing to force freeholders to assess their buildings and enter remediation schemes within set time period with a legal requirement to force action, if that is what it takes.
And we will set out further steps on remediation this autumn.
We will also reform the construction products industry that make this fatal cladding so homes are made of safe materials, and those who compromise that safety will face the consequences. We will ensure that tenants and their leaseholders can never again be ignored, and that social landlords are held to account for the decency and safety of their homes.
Starmer: government will take first step to companies blamed in inquiry being awarded government contracts
Keir Starmer has said that the government will write to all companies found by the inquiry to have been part of these horrific failings as the first step to stopping them being awarded government contracts.”
Starmer also cautioned MPs saying “it is vital that as we respond to this report today we do 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.”
He promises annual updates to parliament on how government is achieving objectives and recommendations set out in the report.
Keir Starmer has said that the words in the Grenfell Tower inquiry “should make anyone who feels any affinity towards justice bristle with anger.”
Keir Starmer has said that the outcome of the Grenfell Tower inquiry “poses fundamental questions about the kind of country we are.”
The prime minister said “a country where the voices of working class people and those of coluor have been repeatedly ignored and dismissed. A country where tenants of a social housing block in one of the richest parts of the land are treated like second class citizens, shamefully dismissed, in the words of one survivor, as people with needs and problems, not respected as citizens, as people who contribute to Britain, who are part of Britain, who belong in Britain.”
Keir Starmer offers apology 'on behalf of the British state' to victims of Grenfell Tower fire and their families.
Keir Starmer has said the country failed its most fundamental duty to protect those affected by the Grenfell Tower fire as he offered an apology, and said that victims of the fire must feel that they are constantly “always one step away from another betrayal”.
The prime minister said:
I want to start with an apology on behalf of the British state to each and every one of you, and indeed to all of the families affected by this tragedy. 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, and indeed to see written down today the circumstances that led to the death of your loved ones. After all you’ve been through, you may feel you’re always one step away from another betrayal. I get that, and I know I cannot change that with just words.
He called for “a day of justice”.
Updated
Keir Starmer making statement in parliament about Grenfell Tower inquiry report
The prime minister is making a statement in parliament about the Grenfell Tower inquiry. Keir Starmer has started by saying:
I want to speak directly to the bereaved families, the survivors and those in the immediate Grenfell community, some of whom are with us in the gallery today.
Sir Martin concluded this morning, and I’m afraid there is no way of repeating this that won’t be painful, the simple truth is that the deaths that occurred were all avoidable.
Those who lived in the tower were badly failed over a number of years, and in a number of different ways. But as the report lays out in full, just about every institution responsible for ensuring their safety.
Ed Daffarn, a survivor of the Grenfell Tower fire, was in attendance today as the inquiry panel made their statements after the publication of the final phase 2 report. He, along with other survivors, recently spoke to my colleague Robert Booth …
Joe Powell, the Labour MP for Kensington & Bayswater, the constituency in which Grenfell Tower is located, has called on the government to accept all the recommendations in the report. He said:
There have been no charges, no arrests and no individual or organisation has been held criminally accountable for what happened. The government and the police must now do everything in their power to bring those responsible to justice using the full force of the law.
After a shameless cycle of blame-dodging and finger-pointing, this report lays bare the individuals and companies responsible for the Grenfell fire.
In addition to criminal prosecutions, those companies should be denied access to public contracts and pay their share of the huge costs of remedial work up and down the country.
This report also lays out central government recommendations to prevent this from happening again, including ending the chaotic and fragmented system of regulating the building industry. I call on the government to accept these recommendations in full and commit to a transparent and accountable plan for their implementation.
The Justice4Grenfell campaign has issued this statement, criticising the report for placing the burden of fixing the issues that led to the Grenfell Tower fire on the same institutions and industry are being blamed for it.
The Grenfell Inquiry report, published today, offers over 50 recommendations-many of which are conciliatory and hold no surprises.
Given the inquiry’s terms of reference, which excluded considerations of social housing, discrimination and social inequality, a report of this nature was inevitable.
The recommendations largely target the construction industry, Government, the fire and rescue service, social housing providers, and the local authority-the very entities that played roles in the horrific events at Grenfell.
It was systemic! It seems hypocritical, and even futile, to now expect these same organisations to oversee and rectify the ‘chain of failures’ that led to the disaster.
What we must never lose sight of is that Grenfell is a direct result of how our society treats people. Yet, the report’s recommendations do little to empower or give agency to the community, instead framing the fire as an outcome of administrative failings.
We can only hope that the Metropolitan police will not follow this line of thinking. They now have a duty to thoroughly examine the evidence, despite the troubling question of why they have not acted sooner, given their access to forensic evidence from the very day of the fire.
Grenfell United: Starmer must implement report recommendations, which are already three decades too late
In west London, the Grenfell United campaign has read out a statement. Earlier, in a press release the group said “The recommendations published today are basic safety principles that should already exist, highlighting how the government’s roles, duties and obligations have been hollowed out by privatisation.” [See 11.20 BST]
The group challenged the new Labour government of Keir Starmer to implement all of the recommendations in the report. A spokesperson said:
The government ignored warnings about dangerous cladding from as early as 1991. It knew the risks, but failed to prevent them, revealing the greed and profiteering of an industry that has been poorly regulated by governments over decades.
[The report] uncovers the systematic failings at the TMO and RBKC, which created a toxic culture, which marginalized its residents. It shows the senior management at the London fire brigade knew about the risk of cladding fires, but did nothing to prepare. But above all, the judge concludes what we already knew, that every single loss of life that night was avoidable. Human life was never a priority, and we lost friends, neighbours and loved ones in the most horrific way.
Today, we send a message to Keir Starmer and his government. This country has been failed by governments of all political persuasions. Our expectation is your government will break old habits and implement all the recommendations made without further delay, because the time to address this is already three decades too late.
For the report to be worth anything it must be and bring systematic change to prevent another tragedy like Grenfell. Your government needs to create something that doesn’t exist. You must become a government with the power and ability to separate itself from the construction industry and corporate lobbying, a government that prioritises and tackles the structural injustices and social and racial inequalities of the people you serve. You must now finally make this the turning point for Britain.
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Keir Starmer is taking PMQs, I will bring you any further words he says about Grenfell Tower, but he has opened by saying:
The chair of the Grenfell Tower inquiry Sir Martin Moore-Bick has today published the inquiry, and I know that the whole house’s thoughts will be with the bereaved and the survivors of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, and the residents in the immediate community. I will be making a statement shortly after PMQs today.
The leader of the opposition, former prime minister Rishi Sunak, said “can I join with the prime minister in paying tribute to the Grenfell community, and we’re going to rightly discuss that important issue shortly after PMQs.”
My colleague Andrew Sparrow is covering that live here.
London fire commissioner Andy Roe has described the publication of the Grenfell Tower inquiry report as “another important moment in the process of learning lessons”.
In a video issued via YouTube he said “on the night of the fire, the London fire brigade faced the most formidable challenge that any fire service in the UK had confronted since the Blitz (in the second world war). Our staff responding to the fire, as well as the residents of Grenfell Tower, showed extreme courage in the face of the most challenging of circumstances.”
He said London’s fire service had “accepted every recommendation from the Grenfell Tower inquiry phase one report” which was issued in 2019. He said “London fire brigade has undergone a process of deep institutional change in terms of its culture, its leadership and its ways of working.”
Roe said “We are in dialogue with the government and the Mayor of London as we all look at what must be done to ensure that buildings in London are safe, and we will continue to push for change in laws and regulation that are still needed.”
He added “We must never forget the impact the tragedy of the Grenfell Tower fire.”
The Grenfell Tower inquiry statement has now finished. We will bring you some more key quotes shortly. In the meantime Robert Booth and Emine Sinmaz have produced these ten key takeaways from the report, including this top line:
The fire “was the culmination of decades of failure by central government and other bodies in positions of responsibility in the construction industry to look carefully into the danger of incorporating combustible materials into the external walls of high rise residential building and to act on the information available to them”.
The report says the architects Studio E, the builders Rydon and Harley Facades, and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea’s building control department all bear responsibility for the fire.
Arconic, the US corporation that supplied the plastic-filled cladding panels that were the main cause of fire spread, Celotex, which made most of the combustible foam insulation, and Kingspan, which made a small proportion of the insulation, were strongly criticised.
The Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation was directly in charge of the refurbishment. It was appointed by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to run its council housing stock. Its chief executive, Robert Black, established a “pattern of concealment … in relation to fire safety matters” and the TMO “treated the demands of managing fire safety as an inconvenience”. The inquiry established that the landlord’s “initial motive for cladding Grenfell Tower was to improve its physical appearance and to prevent it looking like a poor relation” to a building next door. Any suggestion it was to improve energy efficiency came later. The inquiry detailed a relentless focus on cost.
Read more from Robert Booth and Emine Sinmaz here: Grenfell Tower fire report – who was at fault and what was landlord’s role?
Sir Martin Moore-Bick is speaking again, saying “We should all remember that the Grenfell Tower fire was and remains an intensely personal tragedy for all those who lived in and around the tower, and above all, for those who died their families and friends. We invite you therefore to join us in remembering them while I read out their names.”
He is now reading the names of the 72 people killed in the fire. In 2018 the Guardian published this piece remembering them all.
Updated
The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) called for the government to go further than the recommendations in the Grenfell Tower report, ensuring deregulation is “comprehensively reversed”.
PA Media quotes general secretary Matt Wrack saying:
The FBU has always argued that the fire was the result of decades of failure by central government to regulate the building industry - the prioritisation of private profit over human life.
This report completely vindicates that position, demonstrating beyond doubt that an agenda of deregulation cost lives.
Construction companies gamed the system to maximise their profits. A system of semi-privatised building control put commercial interests ahead of regulatory duties.
Firefighters and fire control staff were put in an impossible position, forced to respond to a fire in a high rise building effectively wrapped in petrol. Again and again, residents and firefighters warned of the dangers of combustible cladding but were ignored.
The FBU is still digesting the report’s recommendations, but the government must go further than what is set out in this report.
The deregulation of recent decades must be comprehensively reversed. The systems for delivering building safety must be brought under public ownership and must be given the resources they need.
Thouria Istephan, a panel member on the inquiry, has been following Sir Martin Moore-Bick’s statement with her own, which has ended on an incredibly personal and emotional note, and she struggled through some tears to deliver the end of her words, in which she said:
As a inquiry panel, we have acted throughout with fairness, independence and impartiality. That is what the law requires. At the same time, the losses so many people have suffered and my involvement in this process has left a mark on me as a person and as a professional, which will last far beyond this inquiry. And although this inquiry is now ending, we know that for many people, their journey continues. We wish them strength for the future.
She had some strong words earlier about the responsibility of those in the construction industry which I will return to shortly. Fellow panel member Ali Akbor is speaking now.
Sadiq Khan: Grenfell residents paid price for 'systemic dishonesty, corporate greed and institutional indifference and neglect'
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said the residents of Grenfell Tower “paid a price for systemic dishonesty, corporate greed and institutional indifference and neglect”.
He said firms held responsible by the inquiry should be banned from receiving public contracts, and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) should look into bringing criminal cases.
Khan said:
The Grenfell Tower fire isn’t just a heart-breaking tragedy, it’s a horrific injustice and a national disgrace. That the lives of 72 Londoners were stolen from us in such circumstances is a moral outrage.
The inquiry makes clear in stark terms that all these deaths were entirely avoidable, and that the residents of Grenfell Tower have paid the price for systematic dishonesty, corporate greed and institutional indifference and neglect.
PA Media reports he said “profit has been put before people” which “isn’t just shameful, it’s utterly indefensible”.
Khan added “more must now be done to hold those responsible to account, including banning any of the companies held responsible by the inquiry from receiving any public contracts as the police and CPS look into bringing criminal prosecutions”.
Starmer: Grenfell Tower report identifies 'substantial and widespread failings'
The prime minister has said in parliament that Sir Martin Moore-Bick’s Grenfell Tower inquiry identified “substantial and widespread failings”.
PA Media reports Keir Starmer said:
My thoughts today are wholly with those bereaved by, and survivors of, the Grenfell Tower tragedy and the residents in the immediate community. This day is for them.
I hope that Sir Martin’s report can provide the truth they have sought for so long, and that it is step towards the accountability and justice they deserve.
The government will carefully consider the report and its recommendations, to ensure that such a tragedy cannot occur again.
I hope that those outside Government will do the same.
Given the detailed and extensive nature of the report, a further and more in-depth debate will be held at a later date
Sir Martin Moore-Bick has said he will end his statement by talking about section nine of the report, which contains “a detailed account of the circumstances surrounding the deaths of those who perished in the fire.”
He describes it as “the most personal part and contains the most difficult reading.”
He said “The detailed reconstruction we have provided will be for many, one of the most important parts of our report, although it may make painful reading, those who lost relatives and friends naturally feel a need to know as much as possible about their loved ones last moments.”
In a moment which will have been very difficult for survivors and their relatives, Moore-Bick assured them “we are satisfied that all those who died in the building were overcome by toxic gasses produced by the fire … in each case, we’re satisfied that all those whose bodies were damaged by the fire were already dead by the time it reached them.”
Moore-Bick: 'more can and should be done' to bring about 'fundamental change' in attitudes and practices of construction industry
Sir Martin Moore-Bick is speaking about the recommendations made in the report. He has told those watching the statement:
Although some steps have already been taken to respond to the many failures that we have identified, we think that more can and should be done to bring about a fundamental change in the attitudes and practices of the construction industry.
Only such a change can ensure that in future, buildings in general and higher risk buildings in particular are safe for those who live and work in them.
We think that in different ways, implementation of our recommendations will improve fire safety, particularly in high rise buildings, and ensure that dangerous materials cannot be used in construction in the future, they will also improve the efficiency of fire and rescue services nationally.
He continued:
Our recommendations include, but are not limited to the following, the appointment of a construction regulator to oversee all aspects of the construction industry, bringing responsibility for all aspects of fire safety under one government department, the establishment of a body of professional fire engineers, properly regulated and with protected status, and the introduction of mandatory fire safety strategies for higher risk buildings, a licensing scheme for contractors wishing to undertake the construction or refurbishment of higher risk buildings, the regulation and mandatory accreditation of fire risk assessors, the establishment of a college of Fire and Rescue to provide practical educational and managerial training to Fire and Rescue Services, and the introduction of a requirement for the government to maintain a publicly accessible record of recommendations made by select committees, coroners and public inquiries, describing the steps taken in response to them or its reasons for declining to implement them.
One of the first political reactions to the publication of the report has come from Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey, who has issued the following:
Our thoughts today are with the 72 people who tragically lost their lives in the horrifying Grenfell fire, as well as the survivors and bereaved families who have fought so long.
This is their day. They have waited too long to get the truth, and are still waiting for real justice and meaningful action. We owe it to them to ensure that this crucial report does not become another dust-covered book sitting on a shelf in Whitehall.
Dangerous cladding must be removed from all buildings as quickly as possible.
The Government must also act on the rest of the Inquiry’s findings with the urgency they demand – to hold those responsible to account and prevent another disaster like this from ever happening again.
CPS does do not expect to make any charging decisions until end of 2026
Vikram Dodd is the Guardian’s police and crime correspondent
The Crown Prosecution Service has said that due to complexity of the case, it does not expect to make any charging decisions over the Grenfell Tower fire until late 2026 at the earliest.
In a statement, Frank Ferguson, Head of the CPS Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, said: “Our thoughts remain with the bereaved families and the survivors at what must be an extremely difficult time.
“We have been working closely with the Metropolitan police Service throughout their investigation and will therefore be in a strong position to review the completed evidential file, which they anticipate will be passed to us in 2026.
“Our team of specialist prosecutors will then carefully review the file but do not expect to be in a position to make any charging decisions until the end of 2026.
“Due to the sheer volume of evidence and complexity of the investigation, we will need to take the necessary time to thoroughly evaluate the evidence before providing final charging decisions.”
Grenfell United: final report speaks to 'lack of competence, understanding and fundamental failure of duties of care'
Campaign group Grenfell United has issued a statement in response to the publication of the final report by the Grenfell Tower inquiry. It said the report “speaks to a lack of competence, understanding and a fundamental failure to perform the most basic of duties of care.”
It continued:
The recommendations published today are basic safety principles that should already exist, highlighting how the government’s roles, duties and obligations have been hollowed out by privatisation.
Where voids were created as the government outsourced their duties, Kingspan, Celotex and Arconic filled the gaps with substandard and combustible materials. They were allowed to manipulate the testing regimes, fraudulently and knowingly marketing their products as safe.
Our lawyers told the Inquiry that the corporate core participants – Arconic, Kingspan and Celotex – were “little better than crooks and killers”. The report makes clear that this statement is entirely true. We were failed in most cases by incompetence and in many cases by calculated dishonesty and greed.
Sir Martin Moore-Bick, speaking after the Grenfell Tower inquiry has published its final full report, has said government failed to consider properly the risks of flammable material in high-rise buildings. He said:
We find that there was a failure on the part of the government and others to give proper consideration at an early stage to the dangers of using combustible materials in the walls of high rise buildings, that including failing to amend, in an appropriate way, the statutory guidance on the construction of external walls. That is where the seeds of the disaster were sown.
He criticised the organisation managing the Grenfell Tower site on behalf of the local authority (the TMO), saying “we find that the organisation was badly run and failed to respond to criticisms of its treatment of residents.”
He said:
It is clear that for some years before the fire, relations between the TMO and residents were marked by distrust, antagonism and increasingly bitter confrontation, we find that for the TMO to have allowed the relationship to deteriorate to such an extent reflects a serious failure on its part to observe its basic responsibilities.
He continued, regarding the regime of fire safety management in the block, saying it was one of “persistent failure”, adding:
The TMO’s failure to attach sufficient importance to fire safety is illustrated by its reliance on a single person, Carl Stokes, as fire risk assessor for its entire estate, despite his lack of qualifications and experience,
If you want to download the full Grenfell Tower inquiry phase 2 report it can be found here.
Met police: it will take 'at least 12-18 months' to 'secure justice' for Grenfell victims
The Metropolitan police has said it will still take at least a further 12-18 months to “secure justice for those who died and all those affected by the fire” after Sir Martin Moore-Bick published the final report of the seven year Grenfell Tower inquiry.
In a statement issued this morning, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Cundy described the publication of the report as “a significant milestone for those deeply affected by the tragedy”, saying:
The report is direct, comprehensive and reaches clear conclusions. Our police investigation is independent of the public inquiry. It operates under a different legal framework and so we cannot simply use the report’s findings as evidence to bring charges.
To secure justice for those who died and all those affected by the fire we must examine the report – line by line – alongside the evidence from the criminal investigation. As I said previously, this will take us at least 12-18 months.
This will lead to the strongest possible evidence being presented to the Crown Prosecution Service so they can make charging decisions.
I can’t pretend to imagine the impact of such a long police investigation on the bereaved and survivors, but we have one chance to get our investigation right.
Cundy added that the police owe it to victims to “be thorough and diligent in our investigation while moving as swiftly as possible,” saying that “The thoughts of the Met are especially with the bereaved, survivors and residents as well as the wider Grenfell community.”
Moore-Bick: 'dishonesty and greed' a factor in the responsibility for the Grenfell Tower fire
Sir Martin Moore-Bick has said “the simple truth is that the deaths that occurred were all avoidable, and those who lived in the tower were badly failed over a number of years and in a number of different ways, by those who were responsible for ensuring the safety of the building and its occupants.”
He says “Not all of them bear the same degree of responsibility for the eventual disaster. But as our report shows, all contributed to it in one way or another. In most cases, through incompetence, but in some cases, through dishonesty and greed.”
He gave this list of people:
They include the government, the tenant management organisation the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, those who manufactured and supplied the materials used in the refurbishment, those who certified their suitability for use on high rise buildings, the architect, the principal contractor and some of its subcontractors, some of the consultants, the local authorities’ building control department and the London fire brigade.
Key players named in the Grenfell Tower report
Arconic
Arconic is the multibillion-dollar US company whose French subsidiary made the combustible cladding panels on Grenfell Tower. The inquiry found that despite close to a decade of internal knowledge about some of the risks, it was “determined to exploit what it saw as weak regulatory regimes in certain countries including the UK”.
Kingspan and Celotex
The Irish company Kingspan, which turns over €8bn a year, made about only 5% of the combustible foam insulation on Grenfell Tower, but the inquiry found that by its “dishonest marketing” of its K15 product it “created the conditions” for Celotex, another insulation company, to try to break into the market by “dishonest means”.
According to the inquiry, “from 2005 until after this inquiry had begun [in 2017], Kingspan knowingly created a false market in insulation for use on buildings over 18 metres in height”. It did this by claiming a fire test of a wall system showed it could be used in any building taller than 18 metres when this “was a false claim, as it well knew”.
Central government
Officials and some ministers were “defensive and dismissive” when MPs raised concerns about fire safety of cladding before the Grenfell disaster.
“In the years that followed … the government’s deregulation agenda, enthusiastically supported by some junior ministers and the secretary of state [Eric Pickles], dominated the department’s thinking to such an extent that even matters affecting the fire safety of life were ignored, delayed or disregarded.”
But the problem in government went back further – as far as a cladding fire at Knowsley Heights, Liverpool in 1991. Between then and Grenfell, “there were many opportunities for the government to identify the risks … and to take action in relation to them”.
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the Kensington and Chelsea Tenants Management Organisation
The council landlord and its tenant management arm were behind the £10m refurbishment plan for Grenfell Tower. For years there had been “distrust, dislike, personal antagonism and anger” between officials at the tenants management association (TMO) and tenants.
“The TMO regarded some of the residents as militant troublemakers led on by a handful of vocal activists, principally Edward Daffarn, whose style they found offensive,” the inquiry found. “The result was a toxic atmosphere fuelled by mistrust on both sides.”
Daffarn was the resident who wrote on a blog eight months before the fire that: “Only an incident that results in serious loss of life of KCTMO residents” would expose “the malign governance of this non-functioning organisation”.
Studio E, Rydon and Harley Facades
The architect, main contractor and cladding contractor were strongly criticised. Studio E, a now defunct architectural practice, “demonstrated a cavalier attitude to the regulations affecting fire safety” and did not recognise that the cladding was combustible. It specified Celotex but it did not realise it was not suitable for use on a building more than 18 metres in height, in accordance with the statutory guidance.
Rydon gave “inadequate thought to fire safety, to which it displayed a casual attitude” and “failed to take proper steps to investigate Harley’s competence … it was complacent about the need for fire engineering advice”. It “bears considerable responsibility for the fire”, the report added.
Meanwhile, Harley “did not concern itself sufficiently with fire safety at any stage of the refurbishment and it appears to have thought that there was no need for it to do so, because others involved in the project and ultimately building control, would ensure the design was safe”.
The bereaved and the survivors are gathered in the inquiry room awaiting the publication of the report and a statement from the chairman of the inquiry Sir Martin Moore-Bick. Among them are Anthony Roncolato, Wilie Thompson, Ed Daffarn and Thiago Alves. Also here are Elizabeth Campbell, the leader of RBKC and her deputy, Kim Taylor-Smith alongside a couple of dozen lawyers. The room is silent.
Sir Martin Moore-Bick has said that the inquiry has taken longer than he had hoped because “as our investigations progressed, we uncovered many more matters of concern than we had originally expected”.
Grenfell report blames decades of government failure and companies’ ‘systematic dishonesty’
The Grenfell Tower disaster was the result of “decades of failure” by central government to stop the spread of combustible cladding combined with the “systematic dishonesty” of multimillion-dollar companies whose products spread the fire that killed 72 people, a seven-year public inquiry has found.
In a 1,700-page report which apportions blame for the 2017 tragedy widely, Sir Martin Moore-Bick, the chair of the inquiry, found that three firms – Arconic, Kingspan and Celotex – “engaged in deliberate and sustained strategies to … mislead the market”.
He also found the architects Studio E, the builders Rydon and Harley Facades and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea’s building control department all bore responsibility for the blaze.
The inquiry was highly critical of the tenant management organisation (TMO), which was appointed by the local authority, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC), to look after its thousands of homes but consistently ignored residents’ views. The TMO chief executive, Robert Black, established a “pattern of concealment … in relation to fire safety matters” and the TMO “treated the demands of managing fire safety as an inconvenience”.
Moore-Bick reserved some of his most damning conclusions for central government. The inquiry found that the government was “well aware” of the risks posed by highly flammable cladding “but failed to act on what it knew”.
Eric Pickles, David Cameron’s housing secretary until 2015, had “enthusiastically supported” the prime minister’s drive to slash regulations and it dominated his department’s thinking to the extent that matters affecting fire safety and risk to life “were ignored, delayed or disregarded”, the inquiry concluded.
Pickles also failed to act on a coroner’s 2013 recommendation to tighten up fire safety regulations after a cladding fire at Lakanal House, another London council block, killed six people. It was “not treated with any sense of urgency”
Sir Martin Moore-Bick gives statement as Grenfell Tower inquiry final report published
Sir Martin Moore-Bick will be giving a statement as the final inquiry report is published at 11am. You can watch the inquiry’s chair give the address here …
We will bring you the key lines that emerge.
While we are waiting for the report to be published, here is a reminder that as long ago as 2019, our social affairs correspondent Robert Booth wrote this long read on how the biggest challenge facing survivor groups already appeared to be government inaction. It is well worth a read …
Here is another extract from Robert Booth’s earlier article on the imminent publication of the final Grenfell Tower inquiry report:
Today’s publication will be the second and final inquiry report. In 2019, phase one conclusions focused on the night of the fire and found London fire brigade commanders were not properly prepared and there were “serious deficiencies in command and control”. It also found the cut-price refurbishment breached building regulations and the plastic filled aluminium cladding panels made by Arconic were the main cause of the fire spreading.
The longer, second-phase report will explain why the fire at Grenfell Tower happened, examining the decisions that led to the refurbishment, the conduct of the construction companies and shortcomings in government regulation.
The inquiry has already been told by its lead counsel that “each and every one of the deaths … was avoidable”. The government has previously said it was “truly sorry” for its “failure to realise that the regulatory system was broken and it might lead to a catastrophe such as this”.
Many of the companies, consultants and contractors involved were accused of engaging in a “merry-go-round of buck passing” and several key witnesses from Arconic, the US industrial giant whose French subsidiary supplied the combustible cladding panels, refused to face cross-examination.
Read more from Robert Booth here: Final Grenfell inquiry report released as companies involved brace for criticism
Police have previously said that it may still take years for any criminal prosecutions of people involved in the failings at Grenfell Tower to take place.
Speaking to the BBC this morning, former chief prosecutor Sir Max Hill said:
I think that the process of looking at the material through a criminal investigation and prosecution will be sped up. I wish I could say that means we’ll have an instant decision, or a decision in a number of weeks or months
But the complexity, as proved by the extraordinary length of the inquiry, means that I would like to think by the end of next year, so in one year’s time, we’ll know.
I think the police very recently have been saying it’ll be 2026. Let us just hope it is as early as possible in 2026. To say it should be any earlier, I think is unrealistic, given the complexity of what now must be considered.
At the end of August the deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, called efforts to remove unsafe cladding from thousands of at-risk buildings “too slow”. She said it was her job in the new Labour administration to ensure remaining works finished as quickly as possible.
She made the comments during a visit to Dagenham, east London after a fire tore through a block of flats that was undergoing remedial works to remove “non-compliant” cladding. She told the media:
We have identified 4,630 buildings that do have the cladding on. Over 50% of them have already started the remediation work. This was one of those buildings that had started that but this is too slow for me. We need to hurry it up.
Placing blame for the lack of progress firmly on the previous government, Rayner said:
[Survivors and campaign groups] spent seven years fighting to make sure that these changes were put in place, and now it’s my job to ensure that that happens as quickly as possible. We can’t continue for another seven years. We’ve got to do this very quickly, because these are people’s homes, and people deserve to feel safe in their own home.
At the weekend, James Tapper and Yusra Abdulahi for the Observer spoke to people who are still living in buildings where the cladding is now considered unsafe. They spoke to Gemma Lindfield who is still waiting for flammable cladding to be removed from her eight-storey apartment block in east London. She told them:
What’s so scary about the whole thing is that until December 2020 we had a ‘stay put’ fire policy in place. Which is chilling. If these developers can’t build a property according to building regs at the time, how can I be sure that they’re going to remediate it in a way that’s safety compliant?
You can read more of James Tapper and Yusra Abdulahi’s report here: Seven years after Grenfell disaster, thousands live in fear of cladding fire
Earlier today on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, a firefighter involved in tackling the Grenfell Tower blaze said there were a “cataclysmic series of failings” in the building.
PA Media reports that Ricky Nuttall nevertheless defended the “stay put” advice initially given to people, saying firefighters were unaware of the state of the tower. He told listeners:
The idea of a “stay put” policy is, its principles are founded on a building working as it should. At the time, as a firefighter on the ground, we had no idea that the building wasn’t built as it should be, that areas were compromised, that fire doors weren’t fitted, that smoke vents wouldn’t open, that the outside the building was effectively covered in petrol, a flammable material that’s going to burn rapidly, window sills weren’t fitted correctly. There were a cataclysmic list of failings with the building, and none of that information was available to us at the time.
In 2019 the then-leader of the Commons, former MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, was forced to apologise after he made comments suggesting victims on the night did not use “common sense” when they followed the fire brigade’s orders.
Timeline of the Grenfell Tower fire and inquiry
14 June 2017 – at 12.54 am a call is made to the London fire brigade reporting a fire has broken out on the fourth floor of Grenfell Tower. Within half an hour flames have reached the top of the tower.
15 June 2017 – Theresa May orders an inquiry. Sir Martin Moore-Bick, a retired court of appeal judge is appointed to lead it.
July 2017 – Judith Hackitt is appointed to conduct review of building regulations.
September 2017 – London’s Metropolitan police widens its criminal investigation into the fire.
January 2018 – Maria del Pilar Burton dies, and is considered the 72nd victim of the fire.
May 2018 – Hackitt recommends “fundamental reform” of fire safety rules, and says there has been a “race to the bottom” on safety standards. The inquiry begins public hearings.
September 2018 – the British government issues a widespread ban on combustible cladding.
October 2019 – the first phase of the inquiry investigation is released, blaming cladding for the rapid spread of the fire, and criticising fire brigade “stay in place” orders on the night.
March 2020 – the chancellor at the time, Rishi Sunak, sets aside a £1bn fund to remove unsafe cladding.
May 2024 – London’s police say it may be 2026 before a decision on any criminal chargers.
July 2024 – government figures show that less than a third of buildings which need unsafe cladding removing have had the work completed.
Associated Press contributed to this timeline.
Here is how our social affairs correspondent Robert Booth has reported the imminent publication of the report:
Companies and public authorities involved in the Grenfell Tower refurbishment are braced for wide-ranging criticisms when the final public inquiry report on the 2017 disaster is released at 11am on Wednesday.
The 1,700-page report is expected to spotlight serious failings among national and local politicians, builders, material manufacturers and sales people, fire-testing experts and the London fire brigade. The inquiry chair, Sir Martin Moore-Bick, and his inquiry panel colleagues, the architect Thouria Istephan and housing expert Ali Akbor, will also make recommendations to the government to ensure such a disaster is not repeated.
Hundreds of bereaved people and survivors granted core participant status in the £200m, seven-year inquiry were shown the report on Tuesday to allow them to digest in private what many hope will be a landmark moment in their fight for justice.
The report comes seven years, two months and 20 days after the fire and was delayed from earlier in the summer in part due to the high number of people – about 250 – who faced criticism and needed to be informed in advance.
Read more from Robert Booth here: Final Grenfell inquiry report released as companies involved brace for criticism
What we expect today …
At 11am the Grenfell Tower inquiry will publish its final report, more than seven years after the fire which killed 72 people. We are expecting the following reactions throughout the day:
At 11am chair Sir Martin Moore-Bick will make a statement, which will be broadcast on the inquiry’s YouTube channel. We are also expecting a statement from the London fire brigade’s commissioner.
At 11.45am a statement is expected from campaign group Grenfell United.
12pm will see PMQs in parliament, where the inquiry may be raised.
1pm a statement is expected from the Grenfell Next of Kin group. At the same time a statement from the Fire Brigades Union.
At 1.30pm we anticipate a statement from the Metropolitan police at New Scotland Yard.
About 250 people have already been warned they may be subject to criticism in the report – likely to include former government ministers, council leaders and corporate executives.
Welcome and opening summary …
On 14 June 2017 a fire broke out at the Grenfell Tower in North Kensington, west London, which ultimately killed 72 people. The following day, the then-prime minister Theresa May ordered a public inquiry. Seven years and three prime ministers later, Sir Martin Moore-Bick will publish his report.
The two main themes are expected to be a failure of government to regulate the construction industry properly, and the dishonesty of the private companies who repeatedly misled the market over the supposed safety of their products.
The report is published at 11am, although survivors, families of victims, core participants in the inquiry and the media have had embargoed early access for a day already. Moore-Bick will make a statement, and survivors and family members of victims will also speak.
We do not expect a formal government response to the recommendations today, although there will be a statement in parliament later. We are also expecting a statement from the police about the contents of the report.
On this live blog we will bring you the details of the report as it is published, and the reaction during the day. You can contact me at martin.belam@theguardian.com.
