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Lily Allen has sensationally claimed that the true death toll in the Grenfell Tower fire is closer to '150 people' in a fiery TV interview.

She also accused authorities and the media of being dishonest and downplaying the tragedy.

The superstar singer, a local resident, made the claims - citing "off-the-record" figures she said were given to her by police and fire crews - during a Channel 4 news interview.

She argued to presenter Jon Snow that a way to help the borough's community would be to reveal the proper death toll.

Authorities have so far only confirmed 17 deaths to date - but have previously warned that the actual death toll is likely to be far higher as they continue to encounter dangerous and difficult conditions in their search.

Police revealed tonight to MirrorOnline that of those 17 six bodies are in a mortuary and 11 are still inside the building.

Allen told the channel: "If we are talking about bringing reality into these people's lives, I think what people would really like is a more honest count of how many people have actually died in this event, how many people have been killed.

"I feel like the government are trying to micromanage people's grieving here.

"I have never in my entire life seen an event like this were the death count has been downplayed by the mainstream media.

"Seventeen? I'm sorry but I am hearing from people the figure is much closer to 150 - and that many of those people are children.

"They are off-the-record numbers I have been given from policemen and from firemen."

Presenter Jon Snow tried to interject and explain it was a difficult task to identify remains and the media was warning the death toll was expected to be far higher.

Allen responded: "Why is that not coming out now?

"I don't understand."

The interview ended.

The comments split debate on social media where Allen later claimed BBC's Newsnight had cancelled an interview with her on tonight's show.

(Image: PA)

Revealing the latest toll update and warning of the difficult work, Met Police Commander Stuart Cundy today said police feared they may never identify all of those killed in the disaster such as was the difficulty of their work.

When asked about the possible number of victims, he said: "I think it's really difficult.

"There are 120 flats of multi-occupancy, say it was three people in each flat there would be 360 people.

"Do I think it's double or triple figures? I can say there are 17, I just don't know?

"I'd like to hope it's not triple figures, I don't think it's inevitable."

Currently, 17 people are known to have died in the blaze, six of whom have been provisionally identified, but authorities have repeatedly stressed the death toll is expected to rise significantly.

(Image: Rex Features)

During the Channel 4 interview, Allen had earlier said there was a lot of anger towards the council, how they had dealt with people's concerns building up to this event and how they had dealt with things after the event.

"The humanitarian effort on the ground here, the volunteering, which is being led by community leaders and volunteers, it is not being led by the council, it's being run by the people of this community," she said.

"It is chaotic, they don't have any experience of it and I think it's actually playing into the hands of the Government because once these people's hope turns to anger, they have got a real problem on their hands.

She said there was no attempt from the council to bind the rich and poor residents in the borough, home to council flats among some of the most expensive properties in the world.

Council had instead driven them apart - by closing community centres and pubs in favour of posher versions.

(Image: AFP)

"They're not encouraged to have a community spirit," she said.

"They know the council don't care about them."