A government-supported initiative to cut red tape considered a push to dismantle EU regulations on the fire safety of cladding and other construction materials in the weeks before the Grenfell Tower fire.



A document obtained by Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, and seen by the Guardian, singled out EU regulation which covers the safety and efficacy of construction materials as among the first to target for dismantling. Among the products covered in the EU regulation is cladding.

The document was produced on 10 May for the Red Tape Initiative, a body supported by the government, to “seize the opportunities” of Brexit to cut red tape. Entitled The EU’s Impact on the UK Housing and Construction Industry, it picks out the Construction Products Regulation (EU 305/2011) as “red tape folly” which is “expensive and burdensome for small businesses”.

The regulation aims to harmonise the quality of construction materials, including external cladding, across the EU, to make sure they are safe and fit for use.

It states: “The construction works must be designed and built in such a way that in the event of an outbreak of fire the generation and spread of fire and smoke within the construction works are limited.”

The director of the Red Tape Initiative, Nick Tyrone, said the document was a “starter for 10” and on the morning of 14 June – the day of the fire – the body’s expert panel of housebuilders sat down to consider it.

However, he said the panel rejected the idea of dismantling regulations which covered health and safety. Asked if the fire had anything to do with the decision, he said: “It sobered the discussion but I don’t think it changed what everyone was going to say.”

The Red Tape Initiative was launched in April by the former minister Oliver Letwin with Michael Gove on the advisory board to “grasp the opportunities that Brexit will give us to cut red tape in sensible ways”.

It states it is a cross-party, bipartisan group made up of leavers and remainers “to forge a consensus on the regulatory changes that could benefit both businesses and their employees in a post-Brexit Britain”.

It received government backing from the business secretary, Greg Clark, who offered the cooperation of his officials for the work. The first of three areas to be targeted by the body was housing construction.

Alex Hackett, who wrote the document, is executive director of the new lobbying firm Hanbury Strategy, set up by the leave campaigner Paul Stephenson, which counts the Red Tape Initiative as one of its clients. This month Hanbury hired Theresa May’s former press secretary Lizzie Loudon.

There is no suggestion the document was supported by the government.

Dr Doug Parr, Greenpeace’s policy director, said: “A lobby group led by Tory grandees and backed by high-profile government figures was preparing to undermine building regulations, including crucial fire safety standards, just weeks before the Grenfell disaster.

“It’s obvious that there are powerful political and corporate interests out there ready to use Brexit as an excuse to get rid of vital laws that they see as a hindrance to businesses. But what industry lobbyists call ‘red tape’ are often rules that save lives and protect our health and our environment.”

A spokesman for the Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs said: “In accordance with Cabinet Office guidelines and following his appointment to the cabinet, the secretary of state is in the process of stepping down from a number of bodies, including the Red Tape Initiative.”

