Bereaved and survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire have said the inquiry’s final damning report shows they were “failed by calculated dishonesty and greed”.
Grenfell United, which represents some of the families, pointed to Co Cavan firm Kingspan’s link to the tragedy - it and two other companies, Celotex and Arconic, were heavily criticised in Sir Martin Moore-Bick’s report for a litany of failings.
The group criticised previous governments who they said “aided corporations, facilitating them to profit and dictate regulation” and called on some of the firms involved to be banned from government contracts.
Speaking after the report was published, Natasha Elcock, on behalf of Grenfell United, said: “We paid the price of systematic dishonesty, institutional indifference and neglect.”
She added: “Human life was never a priority, and we lost friends, neighbours and loved ones in the most horrific way – from greed, corruption, incompetence and negligence.”
Their statement also said that while the report is a “significant chapter” in the years since the fire, “justice has not been delivered” as they restated their call for police and prosecutors to “ensure that those who are truly responsible are held to account and brought to justice”.
After the final report was published, Grenfell United said: “Today marks the conclusion of a painful six years listening to the evidence of the deaths of 54 adults and 18 children, our loved ones, neighbours and friends.
“It is a significant chapter in the journey to truth, justice and change. But justice has not been delivered.
“The inquiry report reveals that whenever there’s a clash between corporate interest and public safety, governments have done everything they can to avoid their responsibilities to keep people safe. The system isn’t broken, it was built this way.
“It speaks to a lack of competence, understanding and a fundamental failure to perform the most basic of duties of care.”
The group’s statement said previous governments had created “voids” by outsourcing their duties to corporate bodies – who “filled the gaps with substandard and combustible materials”.
Their statement continued: “The recommendations published today are basic safety principles that should already exist, highlighting how the government’s roles, duties and obligations have been hollowed out by privatisation.
“Where voids were created as the government outsourced their duties, Kingspan, Celotex and Arconic filled the gaps with substandard and combustible materials.
“They were allowed to manipulate the testing regimes, fraudulently and knowingly marketing their products as safe.
“Sir Martin Moore-Bick has laid bare his mistrust in the building industry – no single publication like approved document B should subsequently be used as a means to regulate fire safety and to keep the public safe.
“The government knew this was no way to regulate. It was there to be exploited.
“We were failed in most cases by incompetence and in many cases by calculated dishonesty and greed.”
In November 2020, lawyers for the bereaved told the public inquiry that companies “assiduously and cynically” manufactured or provided products which they knew or suspected to be dangerous in pursuit of profit, labelling them as “little more than crooks and killers”.
Grenfell United’s statement continued: “The duty of government should be to safeguard life, whilst protecting us from corporate greed. But for too long, they have aided corporations, facilitating them to profit and dictate regulation.
“It is a damning indictment of this country that amateurs, like Carl Stokes and Brian Martin, can pose to be experts, putting countless lives at risk and taking the lives of our loved ones.
“There’s a reading of the inquiry hiding in plain sight that speaks to both the damage done to Grenfell Tower and the wider damage done to Britain.
“It’s a serious problem for the whole country when governments invite corporations to write their own rules.”
Calling for changes to prevent a similar disaster happening again, Grenfell United said: “The government must now exert control over the sector to prevent further dismantling of public safety, which used to be understood as their primary job, not aiding and abetting crooks and killers.
“To prevent a future Grenfell, the government needs to create something that doesn’t exist: a government with the power and ability to separate itself from the construction industry and corporate lobbying, putting people before profit.
“Over and above all, the judge concludes what we already knew, that every single loss of life was avoidable.
“We expect this government to break old habits and implement all of the recommendations made by Sir Martin Moore-Bick from the inquiry report without further delay, because the time to address this is already three decades too late.
“We are calling on the government to ban Arconic, Kingspan, Celotex and Rydon from central or local government procurement processes. And finally start acting in the British public’s interest.
“We have an expectation that the Met Police and the CPS ensure that those who are truly responsible are held to account and brought to justice.
“We must never forget that at the heart of this inquiry report is the fact that 72 people lost their lives.”
