Housing minister Rushanara Ali loses brief after complaint by Grenfell survivors
A housing minister has lost her building safety brief after Grenfell survivors complained about her attendance at a conference sponsored by a firm criticised by an inquiry into the deadly fire.
Rushanara Ali said she understands that “perception matters” and trusted relationships between the government and the Grenfell community are “essential”.
It came after Grenfell United, a group that represents survivors and bereaved families, allegedly demanded her removal, according to The Sunday Times.
The paper reported she had been a regular attendee of the Franco-British Colloque, an annual policy forum, which was co-chaired by the former chairman of Saint-Gobain, Pierre-Andre de Chalendar between 2012 and 2024.
The French manufacturing firm was until recently the majority owner of Celotex, the company which made most of the flammable insulation used behind the panels on the building.
Rushanara Ali says ‘perception matters’
Celotex was one of the companies the Grenfell Inquiry report said cynically, deliberately, and dishonestly sold what they knew to be flammable construction materials as “fire safe”.
The fire, which broke out on 14 June 2017 in the 24-storey tower block in Kensington, west London killed 72 people.
Read more:
Grenfell Inquiry main findings
What happened in the Grenfell Tower fire
Ms Ali said in a statement: “Trusted relationships between ministers and the Grenfell community are essential for this department.
“Before I became a minister, I called for the French delegation of the Franco-British Colloque to cut ties with Saint Gobain.
“But I understand that perception matters and I have therefore concluded that the building safety portfolio would be best transferred to another minister.
“Our goals of making buildings safe and preventing another tragedy continue to be very important issues for me, and the deputy prime minister and the rest of the ministerial team have my full support in delivering on this work.”
She will remain a minister in the housing department, keeping her responsibilities for homelessness and rough sleeping.
Politics
Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell tells Nigel Farage ‘kneejerk’ migrant deportation plan won’t solve problem
The Archbishop of York has told Sky News the UK should resist Reform’s “kneejerk” plan for the mass deportation of migrants, telling Nigel Farage he is not offering any “long-term solution”.
Stephen Cottrell said in an interview with Trevor Phillips he has “every sympathy” with people who are concerned about asylum seekers coming to the country illegally.
But he criticised the plan announced by Reform on Tuesday to deport 600,000 people, which would be enabled by striking deals with the Taliban and Iran, saying it will not “solve the problem”.
Mr Cottrell is currently acting head of the Church of England while a new Archbishop of Canterbury is chosen.
Pic: Jacob King/PA Wire
The Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell in 2020.
File pic: PA
Phillips asked him: “What’s your response to the people who are saying the policy should be ‘you land here, unlawfully, you get locked up and you get deported straight away. No ifs, no buts’?”
Mr Cottrell said he would tell them “you haven’t solved the problem”, adding: “You’ve just put it somewhere else and you’ve done nothing to address the issue of what brings people to this country.
“And so if you think that’s the answer, you will discover in due course that all you have done is made the problem worse.
“Don’t misunderstand me, I have every sympathy with those who find this difficult, every sympathy – as I do with those living in poverty.
“But… we should actively resist the kind of isolationist, short term kneejerk ‘send them home’.”
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What do public make of Reform’s plans?
Nigel Farage at the launch of Reform UK’s plan to deport asylum seekers. Pic: PA
Asked if that was his message to the Reform leader, he said: “Well, it is. I mean, Mr Farage is saying the things he’s saying, but he is not offering any long-term solution to the big issues which are convulsing our world, which lead to this. And, I see no other way.”
You can watch the full interview on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips on Sky News from 8.30am
Mr Farage, the MP for Clacton, was asked at a news conference this week what he would say if Christian leaders opposed his plan.
“Whoever the Christian leaders are at any given point in time, I think over the last decades, quite a few of them have been rather out of touch, perhaps with their own flock,” he said.
“We believe that what we’re offering is right and proper, and we believe for a political party that was founded around the slogan of family, community, country that we are doing right by all of those things, with these plans we put forward today.”
Sky News has approached Mr Farage for comment.
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