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.”
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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.
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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.”
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Southport killer Axel Rudakubana’s anti-terror case should have been kept open, a review into his attacks has found.
Following the killings in Southport last summer, a rapid review was launched into Rudakubana’s contact with Prevent – a government strategy aimed at stopping people from becoming terrorists.
Speaking in the House of Commons, Home Office minister Dan Jarvis repeated that Rudakubana was in contact three times before his attacks at a Taylor Swift dance class where three young girls were murdered.
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He added that the report found Rudakubana should have been referred to Channel, another anti-terror scheme.
Mr Jarvis said: “The review concluded that too much focus was placed on the absence of a distinct ideology, to the detriment of considering the perpetrator’s susceptibility, grievances, and complex needs.
“There was an under-exploration of the significance of his repeat referrals and the cumulative risk, including his history of violence.
“There were potentially incomplete lines of inquiry, that at the time the perpetrator could have fallen into a mixed, unclear or unstable category for Channel due to his potential interest in mass violence.
“Indeed, the overall conclusion of the review is that he should have been case-managed through the Channel multi-agency process, rather than closed to Prevent.”
He said the review found Rudakubana’s referral to Prevent was “closed prematurely”, and there was “sufficient concern to keep the case active while further information was collected”.
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Could the Southport killings have been prevented?
The review noted Rudakubana was referred to Prevent on three occasions: first in December 2019 when he was 13, again in February 2021 when he was 14, and finally in April 2021.
The first report was due to concerns he was carrying a knife and searching for school shootings online.
The second was for online activity relating to Libya and Colonel Gaddafi, and the third for searching for London bombings, the IRA and the Israel-Palestine conflict.
“On each of these occasions, the decision at the time was that the perpetrator should not progress to the Channel multi-agency process,” Mr Jarvis said.
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The report highlighted that in the second referral, Rudakubana’s name was spelt differently from the first.
It then says a Prevent supervisor was unable to find the previous referral and “this may have caused the case to be closed quickly on minimal information”.
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As part of the review, 14 recommendations were made on how to improve Prevent, which Mr Jarvis said they had accepted and would be implementing.
Mr Jarvis said the government is working to set up an inquiry into what happened as soon as possible, although confirmed it would not initially be on a statutory footing.
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