Grenfell driven by deregulation agenda

The Grenfell United bereaved families and survivors’ group, which is campaigning for “justice and change” following the deaths of 72 people in the 2017 Grenfell Tower disaster, said a government statement at the public inquiry into the fire was “deeply offensive”.

Jason Beer QC, representing the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, told the inquiry: “The department is deeply sorry for its past failures in relation to the oversight of the system that regulated safety in the construction and refurbishment of high-rise buildings.”

However, he added that “had the Building Regulations, British Standards and statutory guidance been followed and enforced with reasonable diligence, a large-scale cladding fire could not have happened”.

But, said Grenfell United: “Government enforced a system of deregulation for financial gain. A system which allowed ministers to pocket thousands and turn a blind eye.”

The campaign has previously said that: “the system isn’t broken, it was built this way”. It added: “Their financial gain led to the death of our 72. We know Government knew about the deadly materials and the consequences, but covered up the risks.”

Acting for the FBU firefighters’ union, lawyer Martin Seaward told the inquiry that a more than four decades-long government agenda of “deregulation, privatisation and marketisation” was central in causing the disaster.