Keir Starmer admits his government needs to ‘speed up and get on with’ reviewing cladding after damning Grenfell fire report

Sir Keir Starmer has said his government must ‘speed up’ the review of buildings with potentially dangerous cladding after the damning Grenfell fire report was released this week.

The Prime Minister said he was frustrated by the slow progress of replacing dangerous cladding, after most recent figures showed that as of the end of May, just one in four high-rise blocks had completed refurbishment works.

It comes after the inquiry’s final report was released this week and found that all of the 72 deaths in the June 2017 tragedy could have been avoided. 

Asked about how he would speed up the safety programme by the BBC‘s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg, Sir Keir said: ‘We will accelerate the programme, I am frustrated it is going as slowly as it is, to deal with the cladding.

‘A lot of that is to find true responsibility and to hold people to account for getting on with the job. The money is there, the intention is there. We need to move more quickly on it.’

The final report into the Grenfell Tower fire found all 72 people who died could have been saved

Asked about how he would speed up the safety programme by the BBC ‘s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg, Sir Keir said: ‘We will accelerate the programme, I am frustrated’

Pressed for a date when will people feel safe in their homes, Sir Keir said he could not give one, telling the programme: ‘We are speeding up the process, I want to get this done as quickly as possible. Each block will be on a different timetable.

‘I am not able to give you and end date, but I can tell you I meant when I said when I responded to the report, I said this has to be a turning point.’

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said his Government needs to ‘speed up and get on with it’ in reviewing flammable cladding in the wake of the Grenfell inquiry report.

Sir Keir further stated: ‘A lot of this now is identifying and pushing those who are really responsible to do this, to do the work that they are required to do. If we need more powers to do that, we’ll pass those powers.’

The report, published earlier this week, found Grenfell was turned into a deathtrap which claimed 72 lives due to ‘serious deficiencies’ in building standards, ‘dishonest’ manufacturers and a local authority with an ‘indifference’ to fire safety. 

It also slammed successive governments and multiple firms involved in the refurbishment of the tower in 2015-16.

Sir Martin Moore-Bick, author of the report, said: ‘None of those involved in the design of the external wall or choice of materials acted in accordance with the standards of a reasonably competent person in their position.’

He said the fatal choice of combustible materials for the cladding of Grenfell Tower resulted ‘from a series of errors caused by the incompetence of the organisations and individuals involved in the refurbishment’.

But he also pointed the finger at industry body the British Board of Agrement (BBA), who he accused of incompetence for failing to carry out proper checks on building products used in the refurbishment before issuing compliance certificates.

Sir Martin pointed the finger at industry body the British Board of Agrement (BBA), who he accused of incompetence for failing to carry out proper checks

Sir Martin accused successive governments of an at-times ‘complacent and defensive’ attitude to safety, while the response to the tragedy from Theresa May’s own administration and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea local council in the immediate aftermath was ‘muddled, slow, indecisive and piecemeal’.

Sir Martin said both the council – which owned the tower – and the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (TMO) which ran it showed a ‘persistent indifference to fire safety’, particularly that of its many vulnerable residents.

But he reserved some of his most powerful criticism for those responsible for firms involved in the refurbishment.

The 77-year-old former Court of Appeal judge also took aim at ‘dishonest’ manufacturers, as well as local and central government, the construction industry and associated organisations.

Sir Martin said the ‘simple truth’ was that the 72 deaths were ‘all avoidable’.

Survivors of the fire and bereaved friends and family members faced another blow in their search for justice this week after the CPS said it would not be in a position to press charges against any individuals until the end of 2026. 

They have spent years since the 2017 fire calling for criminal charges to be brought and reiterated their calls for justice following the report’s publication.

Former housing secretary Michael Gove also said criminal prosecutions should be brought against Grenfell Tower cladding firms.

Companies that are ‘still making vast profits without acknowledging their full responsibility’ must also be punished financially, he suggested.

Writing in the Sunday Times, Mr Gove claimed attempts to punish Kingspan, Arconic and Celotex when he was in government had been blocked by ‘bureaucracies’.

There was ‘insufficient action’ from foreign governments on responsible companies based abroad, he said, adding that attempts to restrict imports of their products ran up against the ‘commercial purism of Treasury Mandarin Brain’.

The final report said the west London tower block was covered in combustible products because of the ‘systematic dishonesty’ of firms who made and sold the cladding and insulation.

The Grenfell Tower fire in West London in June 2017 left 72 people dead in a shocking tragedy

The report officially lifted the curtain on the businesses responsible for the cut-price refurbishment of Grenfell Tower in 2016, which saw dangerously flammable polyethylene-cored aluminium cladding panels plastered to the exterior of the high-rise building. Pictured: A composite photograph showing how the  fire swept through Grenfell Tower in  2017

Kingspan had, from 2005 and even after the inquiry began in the wake of the fire, ‘knowingly created a false market in insulation’ for use on buildings over 18 metres tall (59ft), it said.

Celotex then, in an attempt to break into the market created by Kingspan, ’embarked on a dishonest scheme to mislead its customers and the wider market’, inquiry chairman Sir Martin Moore-Bick said.

Mr Gove apologised to the relatives and survivors of the tragedy who were ‘let down by successive governments, including governments of which I was a part’.

Companies which manufactured materials used on the tower have ‘still not shown proper awareness of their guilt, contrition for their crimes or restitution for their wrongs’, he added.

‘Because Kingspan is based in Ireland, and Arconic’s European operations and Celotex are in France, our jurisdiction was limited. But we were determined to go after them,’ Mr Gove said.

The former Conservative Party leadership hopeful pressured Ulster Rugby and Mercedes’ F1 team, asking them to reconsider their relationship with Irish insulation firm Kingspan in 2021.

Last year, he warned shareholders in cladding companies that the firms will face ‘severe consequences’ if no post-Grenfell financial support package is forthcoming.

Mr Gove said taking the ‘necessary action’ against cladding firms ‘will require toughness… I know there will be voices opposed to robust action’.

‘You cannot purchase prosperity at the price of justice. Those who are the guiltiest must pay, and pay the most,’ he added.