The key recommendations from the Grenfell Tower report

When the fire alarm went off inside Gurpreet Sanghera’s eighth-floor flat in west London last week, she couldn’t help but think of the images she’d seen of residents fleeing that burning tower block on the other side of town in Dagenham a few hours earlier.

“My partner had just left the building with our son and he wasn’t answering his phone... It was very scary,” says Sanghera, 42, a litigation partner at leading London law firm Simkins LLP who owns a flat inside the Arc Tower in Ealing.

The two-bedroom apartment that the lawyer shares with her partner and one-year-old son is surrounded by dangerous cladding, just like the seven-storey Dagenham block to which 40 fire engines and around 225 firefighters were sent to tackle a “devastating” fire on Bank Holiday Monday.

Read the full story from the Evening Standard.

One step towards the inquiry’s recommendations the government is already taking is for all public servants to have a “duty of candour”.

Currently, this only applies to NHS staff, who since 2014 have been formally required to be open and honest with patients and families following an issue with treatment.

The extension of this measure was announced in July’s King’s Speech setting out the government’s legislative agenda.

The 'Hillsborough Law' outlined in Labour’s election manifesto would put this on all public officials and authorities.

It would also provide legal aid for victims of disasters or state-related deaths.

Unveiling the measure earlier in the summer, King Charles told Parliament: “My government will take steps to help rebuild trust and foster respect.”

Angela Rayner promised to “work tirelessly” to “deliver a stronger culture of safety” following the publication of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry’s final report.

The deputy prime minister, who also serves as housing secretary, said: "The Grenfell community has campaigned tirelessly to push for justice & change.

“My promise to them is to work tirelessly, with urgency & care, to deliver a stronger culture of safety across the system from top to bottom.”

There is one thing that strikes you about the Grenfell Inquiry report - other than its size.

Throughout its 1,700 pages - that drew on 320,000 pieces of evidence, 1,600 witness statements, and over 300 public hearings - there is no overarching conclusion as to who was ultimately responsible for the disaster.

No person or organisation is found "most" to blame for the entirely avoidable deaths of 72 people - the greatest loss of civilian life in a fire since the Second World War.

Read the full report from Sky News.

Grenfell Tower survivor Francis Dean has criticised what he called the “seven-year delay to justice” as he and others wait for criminal prosecutions to be brought.

“Since that night I’ve not been the same person, I’m messed up,” he said at a briefing given by members of a support group for the next of kin in central London.

“The government at the time promised us justice. I hope this current government can take up the lead.”

A man whose sister was killed in the Grenfell Tower tragedy has said the inquiry has delayed the justice owed to him and other bereaved families.

“No one has asked me if I wanted this inquiry”, Karim Khalloufi, whose sister Khadija was among the 72 who died, told a press conference in central London.

“Maybe I will die without having justice,” he added at the briefing given by members of a support group for the next of kin of some the 72 people killed in the tower block blaze in 2017.

Another victim’s relative told the event at the Royal Lancaster London hotel he wanted manslaughter charges to be brought, adding “nothing else will do”.

The Crown Prosecution Service has said decisions on potential criminal prosecutions are not expected for another two years.

Muslim survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire were badly failed by the local council and denied their right to halal food while being temporarily rehoused at hotels, a damning inquiry has revealed.

The inquiry’s final report found the fire that killed 72 people in 2017 was the result of “decades of failure” by central government and the construction industry to act on the dangers of flammable cladding.

It concluded that Kensington and Chelsea Council should have done more to cater to people from diverse backgrounds. Many of those who lived in the tower had been observing Ramadan, but halal food was not available at all hotels, nor was it possible to observe the requirement to eat at set times.

Read the full story from The Independent.

The inquiry’s report made several references to the Lakanal House fire several years earlier, which it said should have alerted authorities to safety concerns which made the Grenfell Tower fire so deadly.

Six people were killed and at least twenty injured in a blaze reportedly caused by a faulty television set in the block in Camberwell, south London, in 2009.

According to the inquiry, Lakanal House revealed “shortcomings” in the London Fire Brigade’s (LFB) ability to tackle fires in high-rise buildings.

In particular, it added, fire chiefs should have: ​​”Recognised that compliance with the regulations could not be guaranteed, but no one appears to have thought that firefighters needed to be trained to recognise and deal with the consequences.”

Jeremy Corbyn, Labour leader at the time of the Grenfell fire, blamed the tragedy on "contract culture, deregulation, privatisation, ignorance and contempt for working class communities by people who should have done more for those people".

Corbyn, who now sits as an independent MP, also urged the government to follow through with prosecutions and do more to deal with buildings which still have dangerous external cladding.

He added: "This has gone on for several years and as the companies responsible refuse to pay up the problem is forced on to the people who are victims and put in this position of danger."

Responding, Sir Keir Starmer said work was already under way to address unsafe buildings.

He added: "It [the death toll] isn’t just a number – every one is a human being who will be respected and cherished for who they were."

The prime minister also told the Commons how a recent visit to the site of the devastating blaze had had a profound effect on him.

Sir Keir Starmer told the Commons: “As I walked down that narrow staircase from the 23rd floor, and looked at walls burnt by 1,000-degree heat, I got just a sense of how utterly, utterly terrifying it must have been.

“As I saw examples of the cladding on the outside of the building, and listened to descriptions of the catastrophic and completely avoidable failures of that fatal refurbishment, I felt just a sense of the anger that rises through that building.

“That left me with the profound and very personal determination to make the legacy of Grenfell Tower one of the defining changes to our country that I want to make as prime minister.

"To the families, the survivors and the immediate community, we will support you now and always – especially those that were children.

“In the memory of your loved ones, we will deliver a generational shift in the safety and quality of housing for everyone in this country, and in the memory of Grenfell we will change our country, not just a change in policy and regulation, although that must of course take place, but a profound shift in culture and behaviour."

Sir Keir Starmer said the government would write to all companies found by the Grenfell Inquiry to be part of the “horrific failings” at the west London tower block “as the first step to stopping them being awarded government contracts”.

The PM told the Commons: “It is imperative that there is full accountability, including through the criminal justice process, and that this happens as swiftly as possible.

“So I can tell the House today that this government will write to all companies found by the inquiry to be part of these horrific failings as the first step to stopping them being awarded government contracts.

“And we will of course, support the Metropolitan Police and the prosecutors as they complete their investigations.

“But it is vital that as we respond to this report today, we do not do or say anything that could compromise any future prosecution, because the greatest injustice of all would be for the victims and all those affected not to get the justice that they deserve.

"There must also be more radical action to stop something like this from ever happening again, because one of the most extraordinary qualities of the Grenfell community is their determination to look forward.

“They are not only fighting for justice for themselves, they are fighting to ensure that no other community suffers as they have done.”

Mother of the House Diana Abbott urged Keir Starmer to make “an assurance that it will not take seven years to bring those responsible to justice”, as well as aid survivors and bereaved.

Responding, the PM said she was "absolutely right to focus on the community and the bereaved".

He added: “Visiting [Grenfell Tower], I got a small sense as to just how painful this must have been and continues to be and we cannot allow another seven years to pass before taking action.”

Sir Keir Starmer said he intends to speed up the process of removing unsafe cladding from buildings, as it is currently moving “far too slow”.

Outlining the government’s next steps following the Grenfell Inquiry report, the prime minister said: “We’re now addressing the recommendation from Sir Martin’s first report to introduce a new residential personal emergency evacuation plan policy for anyone whose ability to evacuate could be compromised, and funding from this from renting and social housing.

“We will look at all 58 of Sir Martin’s recommendations in detail.

“There will be a debate on the floor of this House, we will respond in full to the inquiry’s recommendations within six months, and we will update Parliament annually on our progress against every commitment that we make.

“But there are some things I can say right now, there are still buildings today with unsafe cladding, and the speed at which this is being addressed is far, far too slow, we only have to look at the fire in Dagenham last week, a building that was still in the process of having its cladding removed.

“So this must be a moment of change, we will take the necessary steps to speed this up, we will be willing to force freeholders to assess their buildings and enter remediation schemes within set timetables, with a legal requirement to force action if that is what it takes, and we will set out further steps on remediation this autumn.”

Social Housing Action Campaign says tenants and residents "are still being ignored when they highlight failings by their landlords".

Former Prime Minister and current Tory leader Rishi Sunak called the inquiry’s report a “damning indictment of over 30 years of successive state failures” and backed prosecution of those responsible.

Speaking after Keir Starmer in the House of Commons, Sunak noted the “systemic indifference and, in some notable cases, dishonesty and greed” which had created the conditions for the disaster.

Pledging cross-party support for efforts to implement the inquiry’s recommendation, he added laws must “keep pace with changes in materials construction and supply”.

This included efforts to tackle a “small number of developers and contractors” who he said had “knowingly and fraudulently cut corners on building safety for greed and financial gain”.

Sir Keir Starmer has apologised to the families of those killed in the Grenfell blaze, some of whom were in the House of Commons gallery as he made a statement to MPs.

“I want to start with an apology on behalf of the British state to each and every one of you and, indeed, to all of the families affected by this tragedy. It should never have happened," the PM said.

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

He went on to acknowledge that the residents were badly failed "in a number of different ways" by "just about every institution responsible for ensuring their safety".

The fire started shortly before 1am on June 14, 2017, when a resident called 999 to report a fire from behind a fridge-freezer in Flat 16, on the fourth floor of Grenfell Tower.

Firefighters reached the building within minutes, but by 1.09am flames had reached cladding on the outside of the building and spread rapidly.

Within 10 minutes, other residents as high as the 22nd floor started calling 999 to report signs of fire.

Shortly before 1.30am, just as the fire reached the tower’s roof, a major incident was declared by emergency responders, but it took another hour for the standard ‘stay put’ advice to be revoked and residents told to evacuate.

The final evacuation was not completed until 8.07am.

It was at 00.50am when a resident at Grenfell Tower realised that a fire had broken out in the 24-storey building.

Uber driver Behailu Kebede heard a smoke alarm going off, and discovered that the back of a large fridge-freezer in the kitchen of Flat 16 – on the fourth floor – was on fire, and smoke was rising to the window.

He called 999 and said told the London Fire Brigade: “Flat 16, Grenfell Tower. In the fridge. It’s the fourth floor. Quick, quick, quick. It’s burning.” He wakes a neighbour and leaves the tower, having lived there for 25 years.

Read more on how the fire developed from The Independent.

In the seven years since the Grenfell Tower tragedy, there have been mixed messages over the future of the tower block – much to the frustration of campaigners and former residents.

The government sent residents a letter in 2021 claiming it had received "important advice about the condition of the tower" and that it needed to consider if, and when, "the tower should be carefully taken down to maintain safety".

Read the full story from Yahoo News.

The tenant management organiser for Grenfell Tower was Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO).

The Grenfell report found that a former firefighter, Carl Stokes, was responsible for carrying out fire assessments for the whole of KCTMO’s estate.

The inquiry found he had been “allowed to drift into” his role, for which he was not qualified.

The report said: “He had misrepresented his experience and qualifications (some of which he had invented) and was ill-qualified to carry out fire risk assessments on buildings the size and complexity of Grenfell Tower, let alone to hold the entire TMO portfolio.

“As a result there was a danger that fire risk assessments would not meet the required standard.”

The report said Stokes’ methods for carrying out fire risk assessments “suffered from serious shortcomings”, including often failing to check whether the TMO had taken action to respond to identified risks.

London Fire Brigade (LFB) officers had also expressed concerns about his competence, but KCTMO “continued to rely uncritically on him”, making the danger “more acute”.

Grenfell United, representing some of the bereaved and survivors, said it was “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”.

Baroness Theresa May of Maidenhead, who was prime minister at the time of the Grenfell Tower disaster in 2017, said national and local government, regulators and industry “must all acknowledge their part in the history and series of events that led to this tragedy”.

Issues relating to safety were “ignored, delayed or disregarded” because of the “deregulatory agenda” of the early years of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government.

The report noted a 2011 letter from then PM David Cameron outlining a “one in, one out” rule relating to new regulations designed to cut red tape.

By 2016, just a year before the Grenfell Tower fire, this had become a “one in, three out” policy.

According to the inquiry’s findings, over this period ministers “determinedly resisted calls from across the fire sector to regulate fire risk assessors”.

This also included a refusal to change the fire safety order to ensure it applied to exterior walls of buildings.

The inquiry’s first report on the causes of the disaster found external cladding on the tower block “actively promoted” the spread of the fire.

Grenfell panel member Thouria Istephan held back tears as she spoke of her involvement in the inquiry.

Recommendations for emergency services:

• A new College of Fire and Rescue should be set up to provide training, conduct research and set standards nationally

• The fire brigades watchdog should inspect the London Fire Brigade (LFB) as soon as possible, paying special attention to its control room, training for incident commanders and its use and storage of information.

• All firefighters should be given digital radios along with training on how to respond to loss of communications

• The LFB should give basic training on water supply systems to all firefighters and set up “effective communication” with water companies to ensure water supplies for firefighting

• The National Fire Chiefs Council should consider new training for firefighters to respond to similar situations, including disregarding instructions to act on their own initiative

• A designated government minister should be able to be granted special powers on a temporary basis to lead responses to major incidents

• Leaders of emergency responses should be required to establish and maintain partnerships with the voluntary, community and faith organisations

• Planning for emergencies should includes preparations to identify and rescue vulnerable people

Sir Keir Starmer opened Prime Minister’s Questions with a tribute to the bereaved and survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire.

At the despatch box, the prime minister said: “The chair of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, Sir Martin Moore-Bick, has today published the inquiry’s phase two report.

“And I know that the whole House – the thoughts of the House – will be with the bereaved and the survivors of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, and the residents in the immediate community.”

Starmer will make a statement in the House of Commons after PMQs.

The Grenfell Tower report concluded that Sir Eric Pickles, the housing secretary from 2010-2015, “enthusiastically supported” then prime minister David Cameron's deregulation plans.

“In the years that followed the Lakanal House fire the government’s deregulatory agenda, enthusiastically supported by some junior ministers and the secretary of state, dominated the department’s thinking to such an extent that even matters affecting the safety of life were ignored, delayed or disregarded," the report said.

The final report on the Grenfell fire says the architects Studio E, the builders Rydon and Harley Facades, and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea’s building control department all bear responsibility for the blaze.

Arconic, the US corporation that supplied the plastic-filled cladding panels that were the main cause of fire spread, Celotex, which made most of the combustible foam insulation, and Kingspan, which made a small proportion of the insulation, were strongly criticised.

Read the full story from The Guardian.

Watch the moment Grenfell inquiry chair Sir Martin Moore-Bick ran through the list of those who had failed the Grenfell residents.

Grenfell United read a statement following the inquiry findings, saying: "Human life was never a priority and we lost friends and loved ones."

The former residents of Grenfell Tower and those who lost friends and relatives in the fire called on the police and CPS to bring criminal prosecutions in the case, adding that they had been failed and ignored.

The time for the findings was three decades ago, they said. Directly addressing those who died, the statement added: "We will never give up fighting for justice for you, and you will forever be in our hearts."

A damning report on a deadly London high-rise fire said Wednesday that decades of failures by government, regulators and industry turned Grenfell Tower into a “death trap” where 72 people lost their lives.

The years-long public inquiry into the 2017 blaze concluded that there was no “single cause” of the tragedy, but said a combination of dishonest companies, weak or incompetent regulators and complacent government led the building to be covered in combustible cladding that turned a small apartment fire into the deadliest blaze on British soil since World War II.

Read more from AP.

• A single regulator for the construction industry, including responsibility for testing and certifying products and a single department with responsibility for fire safety

• Every “higher-risk” building should have a fire-safety strategy, written by a registered fire engineer

• Fire engineers should be recognised by law and covered by an independent regulator

• Directors and managers at construction firms should be made to personally “take all reasonable care” to ensure buildings are safe

• Data on product and material tests and reports on serious fires should be compiled in a national library managed by the construction regulator to aid future building design

• The Government should maintain a public archive of recommendations made by select committees, inquiries and coroners, such as those made after the 2009 Lakanal House fire

• A new mandatory qualification for fire risk assessors

• Local authorities should have contingency plans in place to provide financial aid to anyone affected by an emergency and ensuring key workers are available to respond

Decisions on potential criminal prosecutions over the Grenfell Tower fire are not expected for another two years, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has said.

Frank Ferguson, head of the CPS special crime and counter-terrorism division, said: “Our thoughts remain with the bereaved families and the survivors at what must be an extremely difficult time.

“We have been working closely with the Metropolitan Police Service throughout their investigation and will therefore be in a strong position to review the completed evidential file, which they anticipate will be passed to us in 2026.

“Our team of specialist prosecutors will then carefully review the file but do not expect to be in a position to make any charging decisions until the end of 2026.

“Due to the sheer volume of evidence and complexity of the investigation, we will need to take the necessary time to thoroughly evaluate the evidence before providing final charging decisions.”

In an emotional moment from the inquiry, chair Sir Martin Moore-Bick read out the names of those who died in the Grenfell Tower fire.

Read more from Yahoo News, remembering the victims of the tragedy.

A fatal fire at a housing block in 2009 should have alerted the London Fire Brigade (LFB) to the “shortcomings” in its ability to fight blazes in high-rise buildings, the final report of the inquiry into the Grenfell Tower disaster has found.

The report found that the Lakanal House fire in Camberwell, south London, “foreshadowed” the 2017 Grenfell Tower blaze.

It concluded that the LFB failed to “implement any effective response” to the fire in July 2009, which claimed six lives, despite understanding its lessons.

Read the full story from PA.

MP Diane Abbott said Grenfell was a monument to those elected representatives who 'ignored the people who put them there'.

Several individuals have faced criticism in the Grenfell Inquiry’s final report over their role in the disaster.

They include figures from both local and central government accused of repeated failures in their duties.

Read more on those who came under scrutiny from the inquiry from PA.

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) called for the Government to go further than the recommendations in the Grenfell Tower report, ensuring deregulation is “comprehensively reversed”.

General secretary Matt Wrack said: “The FBU has always argued that the fire was the result of decades of failure by central government to regulate the building industry – the prioritisation of private profit over human life.

“This report completely vindicates that position, demonstrating beyond doubt that an agenda of deregulation cost lives.

“Construction companies gamed the system to maximise their profits. A system of semi-privatised building control put commercial interests ahead of regulatory duties.

“Firefighters and fire control staff were put in an impossible position, forced to respond to a fire in a high rise building effectively wrapped in petrol. Again and again, residents and firefighters warned of the dangers of combustible cladding but were ignored.

“The FBU is still digesting the report’s recommendations, but the government must go further than what is set out in this report.

“The deregulation of recent decades must be comprehensively reversed. The systems for delivering building safety must be brought under public ownership and must be given the resources they need.”

The chair of the inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire which killed 72 people in 2017 said on Wednesday all the deaths were avoidable and added that the victims had been badly failed.

"The simple truth is that the deaths that occurred were all avoidable, and those who lived in the tower were badly failed over a number of years and in a number of different ways by those who were responsible for ensuring the safety of the building and its occupants," chair Martin Moor-Bick said.

Read the full story from Reuters.

The inquiry chairman's statement concluded with evidence on the circumstances surrounding the deaths of those who lost their lives at Grenfell.

"The fire at Grenfell Tower was above all a human tragedy in which many lives were lost, families were torn asunder and a community was shattered," said Sir Martin Moore-Bick.

The inquiry made findings about the cause of death, in an effort to assist the coroner as well as “sparing the relatives of those who died the stress of prolonged proceedings”.

"All those who bodies were damaged by the fire were already dead by the time it reached them," Moore-Bick concluded.

London Fire Brigade said it was now “better prepared” to respond to high-rise fires but would not be “complacent”.

Commissioner Andy Roe said: “On the night of the fire, the brigade faced the most formidable challenge that any fire service in the UK has confronted in living memory. Staff responding to the fire on the night of the tragedy, as well as members of other emergency services who attended in support of the brigade, showed extreme courage in the face of the most appalling of circumstances.

“In 2019, the brigade accepted every recommendation from the Phase 1 Report and we have since implemented significant changes to how we operate. This year, we completed every recommendation directed at us as part of Phase 1.

“We have introduced important policies, new equipment, improved training and better ways of working, particularly in how we respond to fires in high-rise residential buildings, and Londoners are safer as a result. This was evidenced at the awful fire in Dagenham late last month.

“While we are now better prepared to respond to high-rise fires, we are not complacent. We are in dialogue with the government and mayor of London as we all look at what must be done to ensure that buildings in London are safe. We will continue to collaborate with them, advocating for improved standards in the built environment to ensure greater safety."

Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer said the report from Sir Martin Moore-Bick’s Grenfell Tower inquiry identified “substantial and widespread failings”.

In a statement to parliament, he said: “My thoughts today are wholly with those bereaved by, and survivors of, the Grenfell Tower tragedy and the residents in the immediate community. This day is for them.

“I hope that Sir Martin’s report can provide the truth they have sought for so long, and that it is step towards the accountability and justice they deserve.”

Starmer added: “The government will carefully consider the report and its recommendations, to ensure that such a tragedy cannot occur again.

“I hope that those outside government will do the same.

“Given the detailed and extensive nature of the report, a further and more in-depth debate will be held at a later date,” he added.

Grenfell United, which represents victims and bereaved families of the blaze, said that today's report marks a "painful six years" but that just still "has not been delivered".

It read: "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."

Read the full statement from Grenfell United in response to today's final report.

London mayor Sadiq Khan has said in a statement that the Grenfell fire was a "national disgrace", pointing to the report's findings that there had been failures by central government. Read his full statement below:

• The government ignored warnings for almost three decades and by 2016 was “well aware” of risks, but failed to act

• A “deregulatory agenda” in government meant safety concerns were “ignored, delayed or disregarded”

• “Systematic dishonesty” in product testing meant Grenfell Tower ended up wrapped in flammable material due to “deliberate and sustained strategies to manipulate the testing processes”

• Government guidance on fire tests was “fundamentally defective” and didn’t properly consider the possibility of a fire starting from outside a building

• Fire safety was considered “inconvenience” by the landlords

• Management of the tower’s refurbishment showed a “serious lack of competence” and in some cases “outright dishonesty”, including failure to establish who was responsible for safety features

• The London Fire Brigade had a “chronic lack of effective management and leadership” and despite the 2009 Lakanal House fire failed to “implement any effective response”

• The response from the government and the local council, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, left residents feeling “abandoned” and “utterly helpless” after the fire

• The report added everyone who died in the blaze had been “overcome by toxic gases produced by the fire” and that “all those whose bodies were destroyed by the fire were dead or unconscious when the fire reached them

Met Police has confirmed that criminal investigations over the Grenfell fire are ongoing.

The statement can be read in full here.

The Grenfell inquiry chair, Sir Martin Moore-Bick, reading a statement on the final report, said: "Those who lived in the tower were badly failed over the years and in a number of different ways."

He said those responsible for the failures included the government, the tenant management organisation, the borough of Kensington and Chelsea, those who manufactured the material, the architect, the principal contractor and some of its subcontractors... and the London Fire Brigade."

Moore-Bick added that they did not all bear the same degree of responsibility but all contributed to it in one way or another, "mostly through incompetence" but in some ways through "dishonesty and greed".

The final Grenfell Inquiry report is a “significant chapter” but “justice has not been delivered”, Grenfell United said as the group representing some of the bereaved and survivors of the 2017 blaze insisted police and prosecutors must now “ensure that those who are truly responsible are held to account and brought to justice”.

The Grenfell Tower fire was “the culmination of decades of failure” by central government and the construction industry to properly consider the danger of combustible materials in high-rise residential buildings, the final report into the 2017 disaster has concluded.