The leader of Kensington and Chelsea council has apologised unreservedly to the families left bereaved by the Grenfell Tower tragedy following the publishing of the inquiry final report.
Elizabeth Campbell admitted the Tory-run borough failed to keep residents safe — and failed to treat them with “humanity and care” in the aftermath.
Ms Campbell, who became council leader a month after the June 2017 blaze following the resignation of Nick Paget-Brown, said: “On behalf of the council, I apologise unreservedly and with my whole heart to the bereaved, survivors and residents of Grenfell for our failure to listen and protect them.
“The inquiry has laid bare the chain of events that led to that night. We will fully accept its findings, which are a withering critique of a system broken from top to bottom. It shows beyond doubt that this council failed the residents of Grenfell Tower and the 72 people, including 18 children, who died.
“We failed to keep people safe before and during the refurbishment and we failed to treat people with humanity and care in the aftermath.
“We will learn from every single criticism in the report. We will take time to study it further in detail, listen to the reflections from our communities, and publish a full and formal response in the autumn.”
Wednesday’s report fuelled calls from bereaved families for criminal charges to be brought against officials and companies whose alleged failures contributed to the tragedy.
Sandra Ruiz, whose 12-year-old niece Jessica Urbano Ramirez was among the 72 people killed, said in advance of the report’s publication: “For me, there’s no justice without people going behind bars.
“Our lives were shattered on that night, people need to be held accountable.”
The council was Grenfell’s landlord but it was managed by a separate organisation, the Tenant Management Organisation.
The Metropolitan police on Wednesday repeated its warning that it would take “at least 12 to 18 months” to finalise its investigation.
Grenfell United, which represents some of the bereaved and survivors of the fire, said the report highlighted a “fundamental failure to perform the most basic of duties of care” across the construction industry. They said the firms involved should be banned from government contracts.
Mayor Sadiq Khan today called for companies responsible for the Grenfell fire to be “immediately held to account”.
Mr Khan said: “Those responsible must now be immediately held to account for their systematic dishonesty, corporate greed, institutional indifference and neglect.”
