Grenfell Tower fire: Were spending cuts responsible for the tragedy?

The political dimension to the Grenfell Tower catastrophe became apparent on Wednesday as the government came under scrutiny over a failure to commission a review of fire safety regulations following a past inquest, which had raised questions about existing rules, while Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn questioned whether cuts to local funding contributed to the tragedy.

“If you deny local authorities the funding they need then there is a price paid by a lack of safety facilities across the country. I think there needs to be some very searching questions as quickly as possible in the aftermath of the fire,” he told LBC Radio on Wednesday.

The Labour party has called for a government statement on the tragedy, as a senior government figure, Gavin Barwell, faced criticism for failing to give the go ahead to the review that many had been urging was essential following previous tower block fires.

Barwelll is the newly appointed chief of staff to Prime Minister Theresa May, and was the Minister of State for Housing and Planning from July 2016 to June 2017, when he lost his seat in the general election,

London Mayor Sadiq Khan told the BBC that while the immediate priority was on recovery and accommodating and helping the 120 families that had seen their homes and possessions destroyed, there were questions that needed to be answered about the fire.

Ronnie King, the Honorary Administrative Secretary of the House of Commons All Party Parliamentary Group Fire Safety and Rescue Group, told LBC Radio that the government had failed to take up recommendations of the group and others of the need to review these regulations for tower blocks following a 2009 fire in South East London in which six people had been killed.

“Successive ministers since 2013 have said they are still looking at it,” he told LBC on Wednesday morning.

“Our group recommended that due to the speed that the fire spread in Lakanal House, that building regulations should be reviewed. It's nearly 11 years since it has been reviewed,” said King.

Attention has focused on the concerns long raised about fire safety by the Grenfell Tower Action Group established seven years ago, and which had chronicled their concerns and efforts to bring about changes on a blog.

“All our warnings fell on deaf ears and we predicted that a catastrophe like this was inevitable and just a matter of time,” the group said on the blog on Wednesday afternoon.

Some residents who spoke to gathered media noted that there was no central fire alarm system and that having alarms was up to individual residents.

Just as the recent terror attacks focused attention on cuts to police services, the tragedy at Grenfell is likely to put the spotlight on the London Fire Brigade, including the closure of 10 fire stations and the removal of 500 firefighters to make savings of £100 million.

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