Angela Rayner criticises pace of taking down unsafe cladding seven years after Grenfell fire
The deputy prime minister has said she is unhappy with how long it is taking to remove unsafe cladding from buildings following the Grenfell Tower fire.
Angela Rayner, who is also the housing secretary, said the government “has got to make sure that we accelerate remediation” after the final phase of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry was published on Wednesday.
The report blamed “systematic dishonesty” from cladding and insulation companies and “decades of failure” in government and the construction industry for the fire that killed 72 people in the west London building in June 2017.
Ms Rayner told Sky News’ Breakfast with Kay Burley: “The failures were systemic, absolutely everybody – whether it’s the regulator, whether it’s those who had the materials, whether it’s the government, whether it was the council, the tenant management – every single layer failed to recognise and to protect those residents at Grenfell.
“It is absolutely shocking to see that.
“This government has got to make sure that we accelerate remediation.
“I’ve looked at it, and I’m not happy with the pace of it at the moment.”
Government figures show work is yet to start on half the 4,630 residential buildings over 11 metres in height identified as having unsafe cladding following the fire.
Remediation works have been completed on less than a third – 1,350 buildings.
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner
Ms Rayner said the government will consider the 58 recommendations made in the report, and “make sure that we do everything that we can to meet those, and go beyond so that people are confident”.
She added: “One of the things that was really striking to me was that greed and regulation had been put before safety.
“That’s what needs to change.”
Read more:
Grenfell fire minute by minute
Grenfell companies named and shamed in report
The inquiry, led by Sir Martin Moore-Bick, found the former Conservative government was “well aware” of the deadly risks posed by combustible cladding and insulation a year before the fire, but “failed to act on what it knew”.
It also found government officials under both the former Labour and Conservative administrations were “complacent, defensive and dismissive” about fire safety for decades.
They prioritised cutting building regulations in a “bonfire of red tape” with deadly consequences, it said.
👉 Tap here to follow Politics at Jack and Sam’s wherever you get your podcasts 👈
Sir Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak apologised for the actions of the British government on Wednesday, with the prime minister saying ministers “failed to act”.
The Metropolitan Police, which has been investigating the disaster, has said it will be at least three years before any convictions can take place.
Victims’ groups have called on those to blame to be brought to justice, but the force said: “We have one chance to get our investigation right.”
Ms Rayner added: “We can’t have a situation where justice is delayed because that’s justice denied.
“So as quickly as possible, the police will carry out their investigations. And we’ve got to support that process.”
Strategy’s Michael Saylor and BitMine’s Tom Lee are among 18 industry leaders who will look at ways to pass the BITCOIN Act and enable budget-neutral ways to buy Bitcoin.
The Fellowship PAC, launched in August, said it had “over $100 million” from unnamed sources to support the White House’s digital asset strategy.
Politics
Starmer was aware of the risks of appointing the ‘Prince of Darkness’ as his man in Washington – to an extent
It was a prescient and – as it turned out – incredibly optimistic sign off from Peter Mandelson after eight years as Chancellor of Manchester Metropolitan University.
“I hope I survive in my next job for at least half that period”, the Financial Times reported him as saying – with a smile.
As something of a serial sackee from government posts, we know Sir Keir Starmer was, to an extent, aware of the risks of appointing the ‘Prince of Darkness’ as his man in Washington.
But in his first interview since he gave the ambassador his marching orders, the prime minister said if he had “known then what I know now” then he would not have given him the job.
For many Labour MPs, this will do little to answer questions about the slips in political judgement that led Downing Street down this disastrous alleyway.
Like the rest of the world, Sir Keir Starmer did know of Lord Mandelson’s friendship with the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein when he sent him to Washington.
The business secretary spelt out the reasoning for that over the weekend saying that the government judged it “worth the risk”.
Keir Starmer welcomes Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte to Downing Street.
Pic: PA
This is somewhat problematic.
As you now have a government which – after being elected on the promise to restore high standards – appears to be admitting that previous indiscretions can be overlooked if the cause is important enough.
Package that up with other scandals that have resulted in departures – Louise Haigh, Tulip Siddiq, Angela Rayner – and you start to get a stink that becomes hard to shift.
But more than that, the events of the last week again demonstrate an apparent lack of ability in government to see round corners and deal with crises before they start knocking lumps out of the Prime Minister.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
‘Had I known then, what I know now, I’d have never appointed him’ Starmer said.
Remember, for many the cardinal sin here was not necessarily the original appointment of Mandelson (while eyebrows were raised at the time, there was nowhere near the scale of outrage we’ve had in the last week with many career diplomats even agreeing the with logic of the choice) but the fact that Sir Keir walked into PMQs and gave the ambassador his full throated backing when it was becoming clear to many around Westminster that he simply wouldn’t be able to stay in post.
The explanation from Downing Street is essentially that a process was playing out, and you shouldn’t sack an ambassador based on a media enquiry alone.
But good process doesn’t always align with good politics.
Something this barrister-turned-politician may now be finding out the hard way.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment11 months agoHere are the best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in October 2024