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Jeremy Corbyn has renewed calls for luxury empty properties in Kensington to be taken over by the Government to house victims of the Grenfell Tower fire.

The Labour leader also criticised the official response to the tragedy, saying people should have been offered immediate accommodation similar to travellers who are offered hotels when their planes are delayed.

He urged the Government to consider requisitioning or using compulsory purchase orders for flats in the area that are deliberately kept vacant, in a process known as land-banking.

Mr Corbyn told ITV's Peston on Sunday: "Occupy it, compulsory purchase it, requisition it - there's a lot of things you can do.

"But can't we as a society just think, all of us, it's all very well putting our arms around people during the crisis but homelessness is rising, the housing crisis is getting worse and my point was quite a simple one.

"In an emergency, you have to bring all assets to the table in order to deal with that crisis and that's what I think we should be doing in this case."

He questioned why people had been left stranded when airlines are able to find accommodation for delayed travellers.

Mr Corbyn said: "Every day at Heathrow, planes get delayed. Hundreds of people get stranded at airports all over the world.

Grenfell Tower tribute messages - In pictures 14 show all Grenfell Tower tribute messages - In pictures 1/14 Tributes left close to Grenfell Tower Jeremy Selwyn 2/14 Tributes left close to Grenfell Tower Jonathan Mitchell 3/14 Tributes left close to Grenfell Tower 4/14 Tributes left close to Grenfell Tower PA 5/14 Tributes left close to Grenfell Tower Jonathan Mitchell 6/14 Tributes left close to Grenfell Tower Jonathan Mitchell 7/14 Tributes left close to Grenfell Tower AP 8/14 Tributes left close to Grenfell Tower Jeremy Selwyn 9/14 Tributes left close to Grenfell Tower Jonathan Mitchell 10/14 Tributes left close to Grenfell Tower Jonathan Mitchell 11/14 Tributes left close to Grenfell Tower PA 12/14 Tributes left close to Grenfell Tower PA 13/14 Tributes left close to Grenfell Tower Jonathan Mitchell 14/14 Tributes left close to Grenfell Tower Jonathan Mitchell 1/14 Tributes left close to Grenfell Tower Jeremy Selwyn 2/14 Tributes left close to Grenfell Tower Jonathan Mitchell 3/14 Tributes left close to Grenfell Tower 4/14 Tributes left close to Grenfell Tower PA 5/14 Tributes left close to Grenfell Tower Jonathan Mitchell 6/14 Tributes left close to Grenfell Tower Jonathan Mitchell 7/14 Tributes left close to Grenfell Tower AP 8/14 Tributes left close to Grenfell Tower Jeremy Selwyn 9/14 Tributes left close to Grenfell Tower Jonathan Mitchell 10/14 Tributes left close to Grenfell Tower Jonathan Mitchell 11/14 Tributes left close to Grenfell Tower PA 12/14 Tributes left close to Grenfell Tower PA 13/14 Tributes left close to Grenfell Tower Jonathan Mitchell 14/14 Tributes left close to Grenfell Tower Jonathan Mitchell

"Hotels are found for them immediately, they are sorted out.

"400 or so people, still most of them have not got somewhere decent, safe or secure to stay in.

"Somehow or other, it seems to be beyond the wit of the public services to deal with the crisis facing a relatively small number of people in a country of 65 million."

Mr Corbyn also defended Theresa May, who has come under criticism for her response to the tragedy, saying: "I think everybody cares to an extent, some to a deeper extent and some show empathy in a different way to others.

"But the real issue is not about what we as individuals feel, Theresa May, me, anybody else, it's what those people are going through."

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell backed calls for requisitioning, saying he would have done "whatever necessary" to house families displaced by the fire.

Speaking to Sky News' Sophy Ridge on Sunday, Mr McDonnell said: "People would not be living in high-rise blocks, unsafe conditions and some of them very poor quality, if we didn't have the housing crisis and part of that housing crisis is as a result of allowing housing particularly in London for use for speculative gain rather than for housing need.

"Now what Jeremy said is if we've got a crisis like that, we need urgent measures and if there are empty properties nearby, they should be used and councils have the power to do that already."

Mr McDonnell dismissed the suggestion that hotel rooms would be cheaper and quicker for families, as he said people were sometimes placed in "inappropriate and unsuitable" settings.

He added: "I'll tell you, I would have done whatever necessary, whatever necessary to house those families what they'd been through and if that needed requisitioning of local properties, yes if necessary because they have suffered so much."