Grenfell fire victims 'badly failed over a number of years': Inquiry

Tributes are seen on the Grenfell Tower memorial wall (AAP)

Tributes are seen on the Grenfell Tower memorial wall Source: AAP / Vuk Valcic / SOPA Images/Vuk Valcic / SOPA Images/Sipa USA

It was the deadliest building fire in England since the Second World War. 72 people were killed when a fire spread through the Grenfell block in the North Kensington borough of London. Seven years later, a final report of a six year long inquiry has been released, finding corporate greed and government failings were to blame.


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TRANSCRIPT

"From that night I have not been the same person mentally. I'm messed up. I suffer from PTSD and obviously for stuff that happened in the past, it led to me losing my job."

That is Francis Dean.

He is one of the survivors of the 2017 Grenfell fire in the north Kensington borough in London that killed 72 people.

The fire started with an electrical fault in a fridge on the fourth floor - but exterior cladding caused the blaze to spread quickly.

Matt Wrack is the general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union.

He says tenants had known there were issues - but no-one fixed them.

"Tenants of the block had warned their landlord about fire safety issues in the building, and they were ignored by their landlord, and they've been completely vindicated in the warnings that they made."

A final report of the six year inquiry into the tragedy has just been released, detailing just who is to blame.

Sir Martin Moore-Bick was the chairman of that inquiry.

"The simple truth is that the deaths that occurred were all avoidable, and those who lived in the tower were badly failed over a number of years and in a number of different ways by those who were responsible for ensuring the safety of the building and its occupants."

Sadiq Khan is the mayor of London.

He says no-one has been held responsible after all this time.

"So I'm calling on the government to ban any company named today in the report from doing any work whatsoever, whether it's with the government, with the GLA (Greater London Authority), with councils, with housing associations. It can't be right that companies named today are going to benefit from taxpayer contracts."

Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said he is sorry for the devastation the fire caused.

"Mr Speaker, I want to speak directly to the bereaved families, the survivors and those in the immediate Grenfell community, some of whom are with us in the gallery today. Sir Martin concluded this morning, and I'm afraid there's no way of repeating this that won't be painful, he said the simple truth is that the deaths that occurred were all avoidable... So Mr Speaker, I want to start with an apology... The country failed to discharge its most fundamental duty to protect you and your loved ones."

The PM has also signalled his support for the London Mayor's accountability proposal.

"I can tell the House today that this government will write to all companies found by the inquiry to be part of these horrific failings as the first step to stopping them being awarded government contracts, and we will, of course, support the Metropolitan Police and the prosecutors as they complete their investigations."

But as that process unfolds, for Matt Wrack - the general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union - the problems that caused the Grenfell fire go so much deeper and wider.

"For decades we've had ministers responsible for building safety, for fire safety policy, and prime ministers who have overseen an agenda determined to get rid of regulations. And those regulations were the means by which buildings were kept safe for people living in them. And it's shocking to hear that we've had governments who've overseen the deregulation and turning buildings into unsafe places to live."

Matt Wrack fears there could be another disaster without urgent change.

"Obviously we all hope that there will never be another Grenfell, but the facts, the statistics show that there are thousands of buildings where there remain systems of unsafe cladding, or there remain other building or fire safety defects that have not been addressed. Only of those identified in England, only about half have had any work done on them. Half of those buildings have had no remediation work whatsoever done."

It remains unclear what plans there are to deal with these issues.

Sir Martin hopes his report will be a roadmap to positive change.

"The failings can be traced back over many years and our efforts to get to the bottom of what went wrong and why, account for the length of our report, and the time it has taken us to produce it. However, if an inquiry of this kind is to produce anything of value, it is necessary for those who can influence the future direction of the construction industry, the fire and rescue services, the management of fire safety in buildings and resilience planning, to understand exactly where mistakes were made and how they can be avoided in the future."

For some families, like relative Hisam Choucair, the inquiry has been a frustrating and traumatising experience.

"This inquiry was forced on us. We had no say. We were not consulted. And like I say, to some it gives answers. And to some it doesn't do anything except it's put that extra nail in the coffin, as they say, or in the hearts."

They agree that safety standards should be improved across the country.

But as Maria Jafari explains, they also want one more thing.

"At the end, seven years have passed and we still have no justice - and we have to fight again. I don't know how many years it is going to take. And nobody knows who's going to be alive for the justice. Maybe not me, maybe not my mother. So who going to tell us, like what happened after me?"


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