Lords pass Grenfell memorial bill and call for new law for corporate crimes

Lord Garnier called for new laws to prosecute corporate crimes: “Where corporate misconduct kills rather than steals, our legal system is failing, and it does not have to be like this.

“We need to strengthen corporate criminal law... What connects the 72 deaths in Grenfell Tower and other cases of corporate decision-making resulting in loss of life are the bereaved families waiting for justice.

“A new law cannot bring back the dead of Grenfell, but the failure-to-prevent model has changed corporate behaviour before, and it can do so again. Would not such a reform... be a practical and above all, a fitting memorial to the victims of Grenfell Tower?”

Baroness Taylor, the communities minister, said: “Those responsible must be held to account.

“The memorial will honour those who lost their lives, and those whose lives were permanently changed by the tragedy. It will be a place for remembrance, reflection and respect.”

She added that she would “take up with the relevant ministers in the Department for Business and Trade to flag the issue raised here today regarding corporate accountability laws”.

Nine years on from the disaster, Lord Roe described briefing 200 firefighters that “our radios are failing, we have no water”, adding that despite that “not a single one of them stepped back”.

He added: “I was confronted by the absolute failure of the building, almost immediately. It was so graphic and profound, it was unbelievable it had happened in this country.”

Lord Roe also described the “granular horror” of seeing a resident jump from the tower and land directly on a firefighter in front of him. The firefighter, whom he had assumed dead, was later seen preparing to enter the tower.

He told the Lords during the two-and-a-half hour debate on the planned memorial for victims: “The physical memorial... is for the families. It’s for those who survived.”

He said he hoped firefighters and survivors’ courage would “lead us in a continued journey and endeavour to improve not just the built environment, but restore our reputation as a country”.

The bill can now receive royal assent and means the government can spend money on a permanent memorial for the 72 victims of the fire, but it does not give ministers a say in the design or planning of the site, which will be led by the community.

The work to dismantle the building started in September, led by principal contractor Deconstruct UK, which has been responsible for the safety of the site since 2017.

Lord Boateng, the co-chair of the Grenfell Tower Memorial Commission, said justice and systemic reform must come alongside the memorial.

He said: “This is an easy bill to pass. It is passed without opposition. It will not be so easy to pass a bill that puts in the dock those people who are responsible for this injustice.

“That won’t be so easy to promulgate, and it won’t be so readily passed, but it must be passed. If these are to be anything other than empty words, it must be passed.

“This community, while appreciating respect, demands justice. They demand justice. They haven’t had justice... they don’t expect it.”