Grenfell MP To Raise Concerns Over Court Backlog With Justice Secretary

Labour MP for Kensington and Bayswater Joe Powell has said he will raise concerns with Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood over the court backlog potentially slowing down the criminal investigations into the Grenfell fire tragedy.

Powell, who was elected as the MP on 4 July, told PoliticsHome before the Grenfell Inquiry’s long-awaited final report that the building safety crisis and learning other lessons from Grenfell should be at the “top of the agenda” for the new Labour Government.

The report, published on Wednesday, found that government and the companies involved were aware of the dangers of flammable cladding but “failed to act” to prevent harm to residents. 

Speaking to PoliticsHome the day after its publication, Powell said it had outlined “in black and white” what Grenfell survivors and families already knew, but that “ultimately, it's criminal accountability that will deliver real justice”.

“Unfortunately, by having a public inquiry running parallel to a criminal investigation, which is very unusual, we have ended up with a delay to get to the point where the police decide what files they want to send to the Crown Prosecution Service,” he said.

“So their [the community’s] focus now is very much, can we ensure that we get to that point as swiftly as possible? 

“And that's certainly something that I will be raising in Parliament, because although the police and CPS are going to make their decisions independently on charging, the one thing I don't want to happen is for the massive backlog in our court system to then mean that they wait an additional long period of time for a trial to take place in what is likely to be a very complex trial.”

Powell said he will be raising this issue with Mahmood in Parliament next week. 

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