Labour accused of ‘turning its back on disabled people’ in Grenfell Inquiry response: ‘We’re dismayed’

Labour has been urged to do more to protect disabled residents and firefighters in the wake of its response to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry.

Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner said on Wednesday (26 February) that the government will implement all 58 of the inquiry’s recommendations, including a new construction regulator and a “Hillsborough Law” to compel authorities to tell the truth to public inquiries. Seven companies will be investigated over the disaster and could face disbarment from public contracts.

But families and survivors will have waited a decade since the fire by the time all of these reforms are implemented, while the wait for prosecutions in the wake of the tragedy is ongoing.

Carla Denyer, the Green Party co-leader and Bristol Central MP, said the government must bring in a body to make sure the recommendations actually happen. “We urgently need an organisation responsible for making sure that recommendations from inquests and inquiries are actually followed, rather than being forgotten,” she said.

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“I have put forward a bill to create a national oversight mechanism for state-related deaths, which would do just that. It would be an independent body, able to scrutinise government action so bereaved families don’t have to be the ones fighting for change.” Denyer added that the bill had the support of organisations including Grenfell United, a community group of survivors of the fire and bereaved families, and mayor of London Sadiq Khan.

Khan said he welcomed the government’s action, but that there should be no more delay in banning firms who contriute to the fire. “I welcome more being done to hold building owners and developers to account for the safety of their buildings, and will continue to work with the government to speed up the pace at which buildings with dangerous cladding are made safe,” said Khan. Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Council said it had extended a ban on Grenfell-related contractors.

“At the same time those companies implicated in the Grenfell report should be barred from future contracts. This must now finally happen without further delay,” Khan added.

A total 15 of 37 disabled residents in the tower on the night of the fire died, and a leading disability rights group said the government was continuing to fail disabled people at risk from fires. The government failed to implement recommendations from the first phase of the inquiry on Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEPs), and Mikey Erhardt of Disability Rights UK said Labour was still not learning the lessons.

“We are dismayed that the government has quickly turned its back on our community. Once again, the interests of private businesses and public organisations have been prioritised over people’s lives,” said Erhardt.  

“Instead of implementing PEEPs, it is proposing a watered-down right to a fire risk assessment and information sharing with the fire and rescue service, which are in no way near a PEEP. And yet, to add insult to injury, such assessments are now called ‘residential PEEPs’.

“You cannot simply rebrand a risk assessment as a PEEP and make it safe for the thousands of disabled people still at risk of fire.”

Grenfell United also criticised the government for its lack of commitment to PEEPs, saying in a statement: “Nearly eight years after Grenfell, what would be different if these recommendations were fully implemented?

“Social housing blocks would be the same as before Grenfell. The evacuation policy is still ‘stay put’. Single staircases remain. No sprinklers. And no PEEPS for disabled residents.

“This is what social housing blocks look like today. And people are still living at risk.

“Ultimately, there is nothing [in the government’s response] that makes us feel like we’re in a new world where safety comes first.”

Florence Eshalomi echoed calls for greater protection for disabled people.

Eshalomi, who is chair of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, also announced MPs would hold a short inquiry into the government’s response to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry and building safety starting next month.

“It should not be forgotten that many of the victims of the fire at the Grenfell Tower were disabled people,” said the MP for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green. “To help ensure such a tragedy is not repeated, it is vitally important the government addresses the issue of PEEPs for disabled people. The government needs to set out how ‘residential PEEPs’ will be made enforceable and how they will ensure disabled people in the private rented sector have the same access to PEEPs as those in social housing.”

Firefighters who worked inside Grenfell Tower during the blaze report significantly higher rates of gastrointestinal, respiratory, neurological and other diseases, new research from the University of Central Lancashire has found.

“We know that firefighters are exposed to toxic contaminants in fire throughout their careers, and that preventative measures are needed to protect their health. Although it is not possible to definitively trace any disease back to a single incident, it is alarming that a high proportion of the firefighters who were exposed to very high smoke levels that night are now falling ill,” said professor Anna Stec, professor in fire chemistry and toxicity at the University of Central Lancashire

“Given that firefighting is classified as a carcinogenic occupation by the World Health Organization and is associated with higher mortalities from rare cancers, introducing regular health monitoring for UK firefighters is essential.”

Steve Wright, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, said deregulation and decades of political failure had made the fire possible. “Government at all levels must listen to the voices of residents. The deregulation of recent years must be reversed to prevent profiteers from putting lives at risk,” he said.

“Organisations responsible for building safety must be brought under public ownership and resourced adequately.”

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