Jeremy Corbyn MP, Leader of the Labour Party, responding to the Prime Minister’s
statement to the House on Grenfell Tower, said:
Can I start by expressing my disappointment to the Prime Minister at the
lack of advance sight of her statement.
I met with the survivors of Grenfell Tower and those inspiring
volunteers co-ordinating the relief effort for families who had lost so much. I
hope the whole House will join with me in commending the community spirit and
public support which helped so many traumatised families.
Our love, our condolences and our solidarity goes out to those families
again today and in the difficult days and weeks ahead.
They were, as the Prime Minister said yesterday, let down: both in the
immediate aftermath and so cruelly beforehand. And the public inquiry must
establish the extent and by whom.
At least 79 people are dead. It is both a tragedy and an outrage because
every single one of those deaths could have been avoided.
The Grenfell Tower residents themselves had raised concerns about the
lack of fire safety in their block.
The Grenfell Action Group had warned, and I quote, “It is a truly
terrifying thought but the Grenfell Action Group firmly believes that only a
catastrophic event will expose the ineptitude and incompetence of our landlord,
the Kensington & Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation”.
The Prime Minister said “It is right that the CEO of Kensington &
Chelsea has now resigned”. It may be, but why aren’t the political leaders
taking responsibility too?
From Hillsborough, to the child sex abuse scandal, to Grenfell Tower the
pattern is consistent. Working class people’s voices are ignored, their
concerns dismissed, by those in power.
The Grenfell Tower residents and north Kensington community deserve
answers and thousands of people living in tower blocks around the country need
urgent reassurance.
Our brave firefighters must never have to deal with such a horrific
incident again.
Those of us with over 30 years’ experience in this House would have
struggled under the pressure generated by an incident of this scale. So as I
said yesterday, my Honourable Friend for Kensington deserves praise for the
tireless and diligent way she has stood up for her constituents.
They need answers and the public inquiry must address:
The apparent failure of the fire alarms at Grenfell Tower, which meant
many residents reported they were only alerted to the fire by the screams of
their neighbours.
Whether the advice given to tenants to stay in their homes was correct
and what advice should be given to the people living in the 4,000 other tower
blocks around our country.
Why sprinklers were not installed and whether they now should be
retrofitted into all tower blocks.
Whether the cladding used was illegal, as the Chancellor has suggested,
and whether it should be banned entirely and what wider changes must be made to
building regulations and to fire prevention regulations, including the
frequency and enforcement of fire safety checks.
Whether tenant management organisations are responsive enough to their
tenants and what greater powers tenants need.
Whether survivors and people evacuated from adjacent properties were
rehoused promptly and adequately and whether they will all be rehoused within
the borough with no increase in their rent.
The resources available to the Fire & Rescue Service, and whether
response times and capacity are adequate in all areas of the country, since the
number of wards in which response time targets are not being met has increased
tenfold since 2011.
Lessons must be learned in the public inquiry and a disaster that
never should have happened must never happen again.
The Government must delay no longer and now implement the
recommendations of the 2013 inquiry report following the Lakanal House fire.
The public inquiry into Grenfell Tower must also establish whether lives
could have been saved if those recommendations had have been implemented in
full and if the recommendations of the All-Party Parliamentary Group had been
heeded by government.
Fire safety measures cannot be left to a postcode lottery so I ask the
government make available emergency funds as my Honourable Friend for Leeds
West also asked yesterday, so that councils can carry out fire safety checks
and install sprinklers, and the timetable for that made known to residents.
Will the Prime Minister also ensure that counselling and mental health
services are available to all the residents of Grenfell Tower and those who
witnessed it unfold on the Lancaster West Estate, including the emergency
services who responded.
Mr Speaker, the public inquiry must report as soon as possible and
changes that can and should have been made already must now be made without
delay.