It is seven years today since the Grenfell Tower fire. Seven years since 18 children were sleeping soundly in their beds, not knowing they would never make it out. In these seven years we’ve had two general elections, four prime ministers and a relentless, churning cycle of politicians and ministers who claim they care but whose actions say otherwise.
Now we at Grenfell United have formed an alliance with families affected by the infected blood scandal, Covid-19 and the Hillsborough disaster, along with those bereaved after deaths in state care. Together, we are demanding that when official investigations establish desperately needed, life-saving changes to our systems, these actually happen.
Many members of the public in London are reminded of Grenfell when they drive past the tower or hear about it in the news. They understandably assume that the Grenfell disaster is over, that real change has come, and that justice has been served. But the reality is that none of this has been achieved. We’re seven years on, and not a single person has been held accountable.
The truth is, no one should forget about Grenfell until true justice is served. Because the past seven years has shown us nothing but failure by those who should protect us. And these failures are not restricted to North Kensington. We’ve seen the same indifference to human life in the infected blood campaign, after the Hillsborough disaster and most recently during the Covid-19 pandemic.
If Grenfell has taught us anything, it’s that politicians will only ever do enough to protect themselves. We’ve been handed so many fake promises over the years: that deadly cladding would be removed from buildings; that the council would no longer use cladding on its public buildings to be supplied by the same firms that made Grenfell Tower’s cladding. But here we are seven years on, and essential remediation work has been completed in just 10% of social housing, while 1,607 buildings suspected of having cladding issues haven’t even been checked.
The government has tried to pull the wool over our eyes, but we’ve always known them for what they are. They want to bury Grenfell, they want to tire us out until we can’t go on. But we keep fighting.
In honour of our 72 loved ones, we are calling for the next government to establish the national oversight mechanism called for by Inquest to follow public inquiries, monitoring progress on recommendations and holding the government to account. Too often inquiry recommendations are left to gather dust, and families are forced to fight to see them implemented.
For instance, seven years on, we’re still waiting for the government to deliver on the recommendations from the first phase of the public inquiry, which were released in 2019. Deadly cladding remains on buildings, which means people are still living in death traps. Many disabled people remain in danger in their homes. About 41% of residents who died in the tower had disabilities, yet there has been no implementation of a recommendation that disabled residents have a personal evacuation plan to get them out of a building safely if there’s a fire.
These are the basics. It’s what we should all have access to. But still, it’s a fight. A fight to hold those responsible to the proper standards and to force them to do the right thing. A national oversight mechanism would take this relentless, thankless campaigning out of our hands and hold those in power to account.
It has now been announced that the second phase of the public inquiry’s report will be published on 4 September 2024. We are calling on the incoming government to make it a cross-party priority to implement the recommendations in full.
We stand united with the Hillsborough families and the thousands of other families campaigning for justice. That’s why we’re calling for the Hillsborough Law Now, which would criminalise lying to the British public. The legislation would end the pattern of cover-ups and concealment, the “I do not recall” responses we so often hear during inquiries. It would also mean bereaved families could get public funding for their legal bills, just as public money is used to support government and public authority lawyers.
Our justice has been delayed over and over again. We now know that the Crown Prosecution Service will not make charging decisions until at least 2026. This means criminal proceedings, if any, will not occur until at least 2027.
This is how the justice system is built in our country. It’s built to protect the powerful. So people like you and me don’t get the justice we deserve. But we want to send the government and those responsible a message: we won’t stop fighting until justice is served.
There is a long battle ahead, so please keep standing with us. We will never give up fighting for our loved ones, and for the many other families up and down the country who are denied justice.
Natasha Elcock is a survivor of the Grenfell Tower fire who lost her uncle on the night of 14 June 2017. She is the chair of Grenfell United, the survivors and bereaved family’s group. A Silent Walk will take place in London on Friday 14 June 2024 to mark seven years since the Grenfell Tower fire.
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