Theresa May says that tests have found more 'combustible' cladding on tower blocks

pulse

June 22, 2017 11:54 AM

In a statement to Parliament, Prime Minister Theresa May said that tests on buildings after the Grenfell Tower fire have found more "combustible" cladding.

Prime Minister Theresa May says that inspections have found further buildings with the combustible cladding used at Grenfell Tower.
May says that 79 people died or are missing presumed dead, and this figure may rise.
May says that parliament should "resolve never to forget these people."
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn says that Grenfell Tower residents were ignored by Kensington and Chelsea council.

Theresa May has said that tests on buildings since the Grenfell Tower fire have found further examples of "combustible" cladding on tower blocks.

Speaking to the House of Commons on Thursday morning, the prime minister said that "the government has arranged to test cladding in all relevant tower blocks," and that she had just been "informed that a number of these tests have come back as combustible."

May told the house that the "relevant local authorities and fire services have been informed," and that residents and their constituency MPs will be made aware and that "all possible steps" to make the buildings safe will be carried out.

The prime minister, answering a question by Labour MP Hilary Benn, said that the fire service will publish the results of tests on the cladding used at Grenfell Tower in the next 48 hours.

The official number of those who died or who are missing presumed dead in the fire stands at 79, although May warned that this figure may rise.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called the fire "both a tragedy and an outrage," saying that "from Hillsborough to the child sex abuse scandal to Grenfell Tower the pattern is consistent. Working class people are ignored, their concerns dismissed by those in power."

Corbyn pointed out that tenants of Grenfell Tower had written to the council warning them of the dangers possible in the block. He welcomed the fact that Kensington and Chelsea chief executive, Nicholas Holgate, has resigned, Corbyn asked "why aren't the political leaders of Kensington and Chelsea taking responsibility as well."

Corbyn ended by saying that the government should make sure that "never again do people die needlessly in a towering inferno, living in poverty, surrounded by a den of prosperity."

This echoed the prime minister saying that the government had not "given enough attention to social housing," and there are "people [who] live a fundamentally different life, don't feel the stat works for them."

May repeated her promise for a public inquiry, saying that "no stone will be left unturned," in its process, and that "for all guilty parties ther will be nowhere to hide."

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