Companies Which Committed "Horrific Failings" In Grenfell Tragedy To Be Excluded From Government Contracts

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced that he will take the first steps towards preventing companies that contributed to the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire from being awarded government contracts.

The Grenfell Tower Inquiry’s final report, published on Wednesday, found that the government was aware of the dangers of flammable cladding on high rise buildings ten years before the tragedy but had failed to act on this knowledge, and that those who made and sold the materials had “deliberately concealed” the risks.

A devastating fire broke out in the Grenfell Tower high-rise block in Kensington, London, on 14 June 2017, killing 72 people and injuring more than 70 others. It was the worst residential fire in the UK since the Blitz of World War II.

The new report set out how the residents of the tower had been failed by many organisations, including the manufacturing companies, and local and central government. 

In a House of Commons statement this afternoon, Starmer said the Government would write to all the companies found by the inquiry to have committed “horrific failings”, as the “first step to stopping them being awarded government contracts”.

Starmer also apologised on behalf of the British state to everyone affected by the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire.

“It should never have happened,” the Prime Minister said.

“The country failed to discharge its most fundamental duty, protect you and your loved ones, the people that we are here to serve. And I am deeply sorry.”

Leader of the Opposition Rishi Sunak also extended his “deepest apologies” to the victims and families. 

Starmer said that the Government would be considering all the recommendations laid out by the second report, including establishing a single construction regulator to take