Fire union calls for 'compromised' Grenfell expert to stand down

The Fire Brigades Union has called for one of the key experts appointed by the Grenfell Tower inquiry to stand down because of his alleged support in the past for cuts to emergency services and deregulation.

Martin Seaward, a barrister representing the FBU, told the inquiry that Steven McGuirk, a former chief fire officer in Greater Manchester, would be “conflicted” and “compromised” in giving evidence.

The FBU, he said, believed the emergency response to the Grenfell blaze was affected by previous cuts to the fire service in London.

McGuirk, Seaward said, had always been at the “opposite end of the table” from the FBU whenever there had been negotiations over staffing levels for the fire service.

“The FBU wants this inquiry to consider the effect of deregulation, closures and cuts to the response on 14 June [at Grenfell Tower],” he said. “That’s part of the big question of how this happened in London. We say that Mr McGuirk is conflicted in advising on this team. He has also been the principal adviser to local authorities on fire safety guidance.”

McGuirk would be unable to help on several issues, Seaward said. “For example, he was in charge of Greater Manchester when recommendations were made from the Lakanal fire [in London] and one question would be whether those recommendations were carried out.”

He said McGuirk would be compromised in his duty to be impartial and independent. He should replaced by a senior officer from Scotland, Seaward suggested. McGuirk is one of seven expert witnesses appointed by the inquiry.

Firefighters were also victims of the Grenfell Tower fire, Seaward also told the inquiry. “Those who attended and those who took the harrowing calls are victims who were exposed to trauma.

“They were exposed to trauma again and again when they went back in. Nearly all the firefighters were traumatised and some were injured by the traumas. Late-onset PTSD, as in the military, is becoming a recognised condition.”

Earlier James Maxwell Scott QC, representing the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC), revealed that it had handed over copies of more than 1.5m documents to the criminal investigation being conducted by the police. Almost 13,000 have been disclosed to the inquiry.

Alice Jarratt, counsel for Kensington and Chelsea tenant management organisation (TMO), which ran Grenfell Tower, said it had offered to hand over its entire records to the inquiry. Due to the overwhelming volume of material, however, the inquiry preferred to obtain responses to questions “as and when they arise”.

Some housing files handed over by the TMO on a memory stick have turned out to be “corrupted” but readable versions are expected to be disclosed to the inquiry before Christmas.

A petition calling for an overhaul of the inquiry was handed in to Downing Street by bereaved families and a survivor on Tuesday. Signed by 16,000 people it calls on Theresa May to appoint a panel of people reflecting the diversity of the local community to sit alongside the chair of the inquiry, Sir Martin Moore-Bick. The prime minister has powers under the Inquiries Act 2005 to opt for a panel-led inquiry, rather than relying on one chair.

At the end of Tuesday’s hearing in Holborn Bars, central London, counsel to the inquiry Richard Millett QC said the inquiry intended to involve those affected by the tragedy as much as possible while also pursuing a “ruthlessly independent and effective investigation”.

He added: “However, the question of the composition of the panel does give rise to rather different considerations. We would suggest ... that it is properly a matter for the prime minister, as the sponsoring minister, to decide under the act whether she wishes to appoint other members to sit as decision-makers with [Moore-Bick] on the panel.”

There were calls throughout the two-day hearing for the venue to be switched to a site closer to north Kensington for future sessions so that more local residents could attend.

May is due to attend a memorial service for the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire being held at St Paul’s Cathedral on Thursday to commemorate six months since the fire on 14 June.