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Sadiq Khan joins Labour MPs in criticising Grenfell inquiry
The Grenfell Tower Inquiry will not cover “key concerns” under the terms of reference announced today, Sadiq Khan has claimed.
In a statement, the mayor of London attacked today’s announcement that the inquiry will focus largely on the fire itself and Kensington and Chelsea Council’s role, rather than wider social housing issues.
Mr Khan said: “It is vital that the wider questions around social housing are answered if the community’s shattered confidence is to be restored, alongside an investigation into our ability to respond to emergencies and the fire risk from household appliances.
“If these are not to be addressed in the public inquiry, the government must set out urgently how it will make sure these critical issues are fully addressed in a parallel process.”
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The government has announced that wider questions on social housing policy will not be part of the inquiry and will instead be addressed in a separate process, which will begin with Alok Sharma, the recently appointed housing minister, travelling around the country to meet social housing tenants.
Emma Dent Coad, the newly elected Labour MP for Kensington and Chelsea, also slammed the terms of reference and said the government was “running scared”.
Ms Dent Coad suggested that the judge responsible for the inquiry, Sir Martin Moore-Bick, had not spent enough time reading the 550 submissions on the terms of reference, issuing his guidance less than a week after the deadline for submissions.
David Lammy MP, who lost a friend in the devastating tower block fire two months ago, declared himself “deeply disappointed that the narrow terms of reference ignore the issue of the provision and management of social housing in the UK”.
The Justice4Grenfell Campaign said it was “disappointing” that issues of social cleansing would not be addressed and insisted that survivors of the fire without legal immigration status should be given a lifetime amnesty rather than the 12 months promised by the government, or their “crucial evidence” could not be included in the inquiry.
David Orr, chief executive at the National Housing Federation, said: “We recognise the importance of this inquiry in answering many of the crucial questions that have arisen since the Grenfell fire. The National Housing Federation engaged with the consultation process and called for the inquiry to conduct a thorough review of current regulations on housebuilding and fire safety – we are glad to see this reflected in the terms of reference.”
Debbie Larner, head of practice at CIH, added: “We are pleased to see that the priority for the Grenfell inquiry is to establish how the fire happened and how it spread so quickly. It is crucial that this is explored as quickly as possible so that the sector can learn lessons to make sure nothing like this ever happens again. Though we understand the rationale for the wider implications on social housing not being covered in the scope of this inquiry this is an absolutely crucial consideration and we are already considering the part we can play in examining these issues further in light of the tragedy.”
This story has been updated to include further reaction.
