After fire, May's government says will act to protect Britons

[webfact]

After fire, May's government says will act to protect Britons

By Paul Sandle and Emily G Roe

 

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May waits to speak after retaining her seat at the count centre for the general election in Maidenhead, June 9, 2017. REUTERS/Toby Melville/Files

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will act on any recommendations from a probe into a fire that ripped through an apartment block and killed at least 58 people, ministers said, responding to a tragedy their critics said showed something had gone "badly wrong" in the country.

 

Prime Minister Theresa May, under pressure for keeping a distance from angry residents on a visit to the charred remains of the 24-storey block last week, said on Saturday the response to the disaster was "not good enough".

 

Her government is trying to make up ground in reacting to a fire that trapped people in their beds in the early hours of Wednesday, with many unable to escape as the flames raced up the building, cutting off exit routes and forcing some to jump.

 

Both May and her ministers have said they will do all they can to help those left homeless after the blaze and make sure other high-rise buildings, usually home to poorer people, are checked and safe.

 

But with Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition Labour Party, emboldened by a better-than-expected result in an early election that wiped out the Conservatives' majority, May's government has been forced to justify spending cuts at a time when talks to leave the European Union are beginning.

 

"If something needs to be done to make buildings safe, it will be done," finance minister Philip Hammond told the BBC's Andrew Marr show.

 

"Let's get the technical advice properly evaluated by a public inquiry and then let's decide how to go forward."

 

May has announced a public inquiry into the fire which would be fast-tracked. But on the streets, there is anger over whether the block's renovation project purposefully did not include safety devices, such as sprinklers, or used banned flammable materials to clad the building and make it more attractive for neighbours in the upmarket Kensington and Chelsea region.

 

"YEARS OF NEGLECT"

 

After a church ceremony to pay respect to those who died in the fire, London mayor Sadiq Khan said he found "a community frustrated and angry."

 

"Angry not simply at the poor response in the days afterwards from the council and the government, but the years of neglect from the council and from successive governments."

 

But the Conservative leader of the local council, Nick Paget-Brown, said he and others had been working hard.

 

"It's not true to say there are no councillors around, it's not true to say Kensington and Chelsea council is not evident. It is," he said, after one volunteer near the apartment block demanded to know where those left homeless were going to go.

 

Labour's Corbyn, who unlike May was quick to meet local residents and was praised for showing empathy, led calls for the government to drop its cuts - demands that Hammond said he was listening to.

 

"In the wake of (the) Grenfell fire we have to recognise that something has gone badly, badly wrong in this country, that predominantly poor people die in a towering inferno because possibly in the long term (there had been a) lack of public investment," Corbyn told ITV's Peston on Sunday programme.

 

(Writing by Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Mark Potter)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-06-19

[Scott]

Troll post removed.  

[ExpatOilWorker]

Bit late for that, they just wasted billions of pounds having their little war on Iraq and Afghanistan, all in the name of protecting country and flag. 

[Kwasaki]

Has the cause of the fire been established yet or is there just speculation and the five theories.

With the damage wonder how do they find out the cause for sure.

[trogers]

Britain can climb down from its high horse and learn from Singapore where 80% of its citizens live in 99-year leasehold public housing.

[evadgib]

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/details-of-grenfell-tower-residents-discretionary-fund

[Jonmarleesco]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

"It's not true to say there are no councillors around, it's not true to say Kensington and Chelsea council is not evident. It is,"

What did Shakespeare say? Methinks he doth protest too much ...?

[natway09]

It is too soon after this terrible tragedy to point fingers but there I have my own thoughts. 

Do find difficult to understand despite their  frustration why they are blaming the PM for it all though

[JHolmesJr]

" She's a liar, liar…."

[puck2]

I hope this human tragedy will prompt a discussion about the dark sides of Thatcherism. With that said I hope, too, that the Brexiteers think again about their claims the European Union would only be a bureaucratic tiger. Maybe the bureaucratic tiger worries more about the poor people than „freedom for (rich) British“ yodellers.

 

It is getting obvious that construction regulations have been handled very „economy-friendly“ in the interest of the rich, lazy and greedy – founded on the ideology of Thatcherism.

 

And there are more examples of an ugly Thatcherism ideology; i.e. in the social, banking and taxing area. There are spheres where the ones who suffer must be protected by regulations.

 

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-22079683

…..At its most crude, Thatcherism represents a belief in free markets and a small state. Rather than planning and regulating business and people's lives, government's job is to get out of the way.

It should be restricted to the bare essentials: defence of the realm and the currency. Everything else should be left to individuals, to exercise their own choices and take responsibility for their own lives. …....

[Kwasaki]

16 minutes ago, puck2 said:

With that said I hope, too, that the Brexiteers think again about their claims the European Union would only be a bureaucratic tiger.

Maybe the bureaucratic tiger worries more about the poor people .

Maybe if the panels had been completely made in England the EU member France wouldn't have supplied the unsafe celotex.

[mrfill]

4 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

Maybe if the panels had been completely made in England the EU member France wouldn't have supplied the unsafe celotex.

But the panels are regarded as acceptable on buildings not exceeding 10m height. The contractor used the panels as specified by the Tory Council and the building inspectors who checked during the refurb, did not raise any objections. Specifying the cheaper panel to save about £7000 (in the richest borough in the UK) has to be a big factor in this tragedy.

[dogpatch55]

Mays   tory  government and the tory council are to blame for this..   Again putting money before peoples lives!!

[Kwasaki]

2 hours ago, mrfill said:

But the panels are regarded as acceptable on buildings not exceeding 10m height. The contractor used the panels as specified by the Tory Council and the building inspectors who checked during the refurb, did not raise any objections. Specifying the cheaper panel to save about £7000 (in the richest borough in the UK) has to be a big factor in this tragedy.

l say fireman equipment ladder height you say 10m height well they didn't measure the height of the building did they,  

Never mind TM she not a flinging builder, there's more than one head that should hang in shame l would say it would go into more than who were killed by the building inspectors incompetents.