Corbyn questions cuts to local funding

The political dimension to the Grenfell Tower catastrophe began to become apparent on Wednesday as the government came under scrutiny over a failure to commission a review of fire safety regulations following a past inquest, which had raised questions about existing rules, while Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn questioned whether cuts to local funding contributed to the tragedy.

“If you deny local authorities the funding they need, then there is a price paid by a lack of safety facilities across the country. I think there needs to be some very searching questions as quickly as possible in the aftermath of the fire,” he told LBC Radio on Wednesday.

The Labour Party has called for a government statement on the tragedy, as a senior government figure, Gavin Barwell, faced criticism for failing to give the go-ahead to the review that many had been urging was essential following previous tower block fires. Mr. Barwelll is the newly-appointed chief of staff to Prime Minister Theresa May, and was the Minister of State for Housing and Planning from July 2016 to June 2017.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan told the BBC that while the immediate priority was on recovery and accommodating and helping the 120 families that had seen their homes and possessions destroyed, there were questions to be answered about the fire.

Ronnie King, the Honorary administrative secretary of the House of Commons All Party Parliamentary Group Fire Safety and Rescue Group, told LBC Radio that the government had failed to take up recommendations of the group and others of the need to review these regulations for tower blocks.

Fire safety concerns

The Grenfell tragedy has also raised questions about how such a fire could take hold of a building so quickly. Attention has focussed on the concerns long raised about fire safety by the Grenfell Tower Action Group. “All our warnings fell on deaf ears and we predicted that a catastrophe like this was inevitable and just a matter of time,” the group wrote on its blog.

Some residents who spoke to media noted that there was no central fire alarm system. Mr. King told LBC that there were around 4,000 tower blocks in Britain that did not have fire sprinklers fitted in them, and that requiring these was one of the recommendations of the APPG.

Just as the recent attacks brought cuts to police services under attention, the Grenfell incident is likely to put the spotlight on the London Fire Brigade, including the closure of 10 fire stations and the removal of 500 fire-fighters to save £100 million. An independent review published last November called for no more cuts to be made if the fire brigade was to have sufficient resources to meet challenges.