You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
Grenfell Tower survivors call for greater role in public inquiry
Grenfell Tower survivors have called on the prime minister to give them a greater role in the public inquiry into the fire “to avoid a collapse of confidence in the inquiry’s ability to discover the truth”.
A petition to parliament has been launched asking Theresa May to use her powers under the Inquiries Act 2005 to appoint additional panel members, with decision-making powers, so the panel is not led by a judge alone.
It also calls for legal representatives of bereaved families to be allowed see all the evidence from the start of the process and to question witnesses at the hearings.
Sir Martin Moore-Bick was appointed by the government this summer to lead the probe into the fire, which killed 71 people in June.
READ MORE
Some residents have been critical of the appointment of Sir Martin and the inquiry team has been regularly meeting with the North Kensington community in the run-up to the first inquiry hearing.
The petition said that to secure trust in an establishment “we feel has been distant and unresponsive”, the inquiry should not be led by Sir Martin alone but should have panel members “with relevant background, expertise, experience and a real understanding of the issues facing those affected”.
There are so far 373 signatures, of which 72 come from the Kensington constituency.
If it reaches 10,000 signatures, the government must make a response and at 100,000 it will be considered for debate in parliament.
