On Wednesday 4th September the second phase of the inquiry into the Grenfell Fire was released, which revealed a widespread and systematic failure by successive Governments, public bodies and private companies. The inquiry by Sir Martin Moore-Bick said that ‘the simple truth is that the deaths that occurred were all avoidable’. The report found that there was ‘systematic dishonesty’ from those who made and sold the cladding on Grenfell, while also warning that successive governments had ignored warnings and watered down building safety standards.
The Prime Minister Keir Starmer made a statement to Parliament after the publication and said that ‘‘The country failed to discharge its most fundamental duty. To protect you and your loved ones. The people we are here to serve and I am deeply sorry.’’
In a parliamentary question Ruth spoke up for constituents still afraid to sleep at night while they wait for fire safety issues in their blocks to be issued. She asked the Prime Minister what urgent action would be taken to remediate their flats.
Commenting in full after her question Ruth said,
''I'm thinking of the those who died in the Grenfell fire & their families and friends. The release of the inquiry report will be an extremely difficult and traumatic time for them.
The report exposed a shocking failure in our building industry, in our regulations and in successive governments. Warnings were ignored and advice was not listened to. The result was the horrific death of 72 people.
Meanwhile many people locally remain trapped in unsafe flats which have still not had their dangerous cladding removed and other fire safety issues addressed. In some cases this is due to developers not paying to fix faults, and in another it is because of a national shortage of qualified fire safety engineers. We need to see urgent action from both developers and from the Government to fix these problems . People living in these flats are living in fear of their lives and are unable to sell their properties, leaving them trapped in limbo.
I will continue to put pressure on developers and work with the Government to tackle the building safety crisis.’’