‘Not one of those lives needed to be lost’: Jeremy Corbyn brands Grenfell tragedy ‘social murder’

4 September 2024, 19:19 | Updated: 4 September 2024, 19:44

Andrew Marr is joined by Independent MP Jeremy Corbyn

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has told LBC the victims of the Grenfell disaster died “for no reason other than the greed and incompetence of public officials and private companies.”

Speaking following the release of the long-awaited Grenfell Inquiry report into the tragedy, Mr Corbyn branded the fire “social murder” and said the victims would have received greater protection if they were middle class.

It follows the final conclusion of the inquiry, which found a “culmination of decades of failures” by the government and members of the construction industry led to the disaster.

72 people were killed in the fire in London’s North Kensington in June 2017.

The long-awaited conclusion, chaired by Sir Martin (Moore-Bick), found there was a “complacent and defensive attitude to fire safety” within Government, with ministers repeatedly failing to act on warnings about the dangers of the flammable cladding.

Speaking on LBC’s Tonight With Andrew Marr, Mr Corbyn said: "My response is that at last, there's been some information come out.

"At last, there's been the condemnations required of those companies that lied and made a great deal of money out of Grenfell.

"At last, there's a recognition officially that not one, not one of those lives needed to have been lost, all could have been saved, all could have been prevented, and a recognition that the voice of the community demanding safety where they lived was not listened to, was not heard and was not acted upon."

He continued: "I hope this is a step change in our attitude towards public rented housing like Grenfell, but also a step change in our whole attitude towards the way people live and building control regulations which are beset by fraud, by incompetence and by delays, which means that people live in dangerous accommodation."

When asked if the disaster at Grenfell represented “social murder”, Mr Corbyn added: “Yes, it is. Those people died for no reason other than the greed and incompetence of public officials and private companies.”

“There is no responsibility anywhere.

"I've often made the point that Grenfell with its abominable, appalling, terrible loss of life and everything else had this been a totally private development on the Bayswater Road, with flats being rented out at £1500 £2000 a week I'm sure they'd have all been put in the Savoy or the Hilton within a few hours the fire, it would all been sorted out, and there would have probably been proper fire regulations in place in the first place. It's contempt for the poorest, most vulnerable people who make London run."

Mr Corbyn recalled meeting one resident who had visited the local town hall on a number of occasions to raise safety concerns over the building.

Asked if he would like to see criminal convictions following the Grenfell Report, Jeremy replied: "I asked that question to the Prime Minister today, I think there has to be a lot of lessons learned from this, and one of them is there's no hiding place for these crooks that caused these deaths."

Speaking to the House of Commons today, Sir Keir Starmer said the country had "failed to discharge its most fundamental duty - to protect you and your loved ones".

The PM added: "I am deeply sorry."

The PM vowed to "demand" building safety standards improve during his appearance in the Commons, adding: "I consider myself someone responsible for building safety, and that is exactly what I will do, and what I will demand of this Government."

The Prime Minister went on to reference the disaster, broken promises to the victims and the lack of trust families must now hold in the state.

"What I can say is, I listened carefully to one of the members of the inquiry, Ali Akbor, this morning who said this: 'What is needed is for those with responsibility for building safety to reflect and to treat Grenfell as a touchstone in all that they do in the future'."