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Corbyn criticises Conservatives over Grenfell response at campaign launch
Jeremy Corbyn has attacked the government’s treatment of Grenfell Tower residents at Labour’s London local election campaign launch this morning.
Speaking at an event in Westminster, the Labour leader criticised the government and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) for failing to rehouse residents in the aftermath of the blaze.
He said: “The residents of Grenfell have been forced to experience the double whammy of a heartless Tory government and a hopeless Conservative council.”
Almost a year on from the fire, residents were still living in emergency accommodation, he said, despite “solemn pledges to the families of the bereaved and those made homeless” immediately after that they would be rehoused.
The opposition leader, who spoke at the event alongside Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, went on to praise Labour councils for their reaction to the fire, including Croydon for committing to install sprinklers in all high-rise blocks.
He said: “What all Londoners need to know is that they are safe in their homes.”
Mr Corbyn also used the speech to address inequality in the capital, claiming that the fire “wouldn’t have happened if the occupants had been wealthy”.
He said: “Grenfell told us something else about London, something we see starkly every day – that we may be united but we are also deeply unequal.”
He also attacked the government’s policy on homelessness, calling it a “human tragedy” and saying that there are more than twice as many rough sleepers in the capital as in 2010.
He said: “When Labour said that the changes to our welfare system and the cuts to support would lead to more homelessness, the Tories said we were scaremongering.
“Today the reality of that Tory heartlessness can be seen on almost every street in the capital.”
Elizabeth Campbell, leader of RBKC, said: “The Grenfell fire was a terrible tragedy and the council has been working hard to ensure all affected residents are rehoused in accommodation that meets their individual needs.
“It is not simply a case of putting traumatised survivors in the nearest available home and it’s deeply disappointing the leader of the Labour party shows a complete lack of understanding and continues to play politics with this tragedy.”
Corbyn housing speech
Corbyn's comments on housing in full
Londoners also came together in sorrow and in solidarity in the aftermath of the terrible Grenfell tower fire which took 72 lives.
Who could not have been moved by the outpouring of support people offering clothes, food, money, accommodation and love to people who had lost everything, and who had been let down by their council and by the government.
Grenfell told us something else about London something we see starkly every day that we may be united but we are also deeply unequal.
The brutal and inescapable truth is that the fire simply would not have happened if the occupants had been wealthy.
And in the immediate aftermath of the fire came the promises solemn pledges to the families of the bereaved and those made homeless - that they would be re housed in the borough.
Yet almost a year on families are still living in emergency accommodation.
The residents of Grenfell have been forced to experience the double whammy of a heartless Tory Government and a hopeless Conservative council.
What all Londoners need to know is that they will be safe in their homes.
In the aftermath of Grenfell, it was Croydon Council that committed to installing sprinklers in all high-rise tower blocks and it was Labour Camden Council which removed dangerous cladding from its buildings and is investing £80 million to improve fire safety in its tower blocks.
Housing is in crisis and that crisis is at its most acute in London.
More and more we see the visible signs of that crisis.
No one who walks the streets of our city can have failed to see the human tragedy of rough sleepers on the streets.
More than twice as many now as there were in 2010.
When Labour said that the changes to our welfare system and the cuts to support would lead to more homelessness, the Tories said we were scaremongering.
Today the reality of that Tory heartlessness can be seen on almost every street in the capital.
And then there’s the hidden homeless, the families in temporary accommodation, without a home to call their own.
There are now 120,000 children living in temporary accommodation up by two-thirds in the last eight years.
And for many the cause of that homelessness is eviction by a private landlord.
Now sometimes that is unscrupulous landlords hiking rents, or carrying out revenge evictions against tenants who complain about the poor state of the home they rent.
So I want to pay tribute to Labour councils like Newham and Southwark which have brought in landlord licensing, so that rogue landlords can no longer get away with it.
That’s Labour councils working to protect residents.
Just as in Parliament Labour is making a difference.
I pay tribute to the tenacity Karen Buck, Labour MP for Westminster North, who has long campaigned for homes for rent to be fit for human habitation.
To us in this room that would seem to be a basic human right, but not to the Conservatives who twice voted against the legislation.
The campaign run by Karen and Labour shamed the Tories who have finally supported the new law.
I also pay tribute to Labour councils like my own in Islington that are building council housing. But while the regulation of landlords and the availability of homes are one side of the equation the other is low pay and insecure work which is why Labour pledged in the election to make the living wage the minimum wage so that the minimum becomes a level that can actually be lived on.
