‘Government has done nothing since the fire’

As much as grief and reflection fills the air on the fifth anniversary of the Grenfell fire, an overwhelming emotion is anger at how little has changed since that night.

Nationally there are almost 10,000 homes with Grenfell-style cladding adorning them according to Government figures, and more than 300 fires have
occurred in similar buildings to Grenfell since 2017.

Thomas Delaney, who lives on the Lancaster West Estate, on one of the three walkways attached to the tower, has been a core part of the Grenfell
inquiry and the campaign group Justice4Grenfell.

Mr Delaney said: “People need to keep in mind that the Government has done absolutely nothing since the fire.

“There are countless other thousands that are clad in other dangerous cladding at the moment.

“You know, and this Government has done absolutely nothing to protect the buildings that people expect to live in, or the people within those buildings who expect to be safe.

“People are going to bed unsafe tonight in dangerous properties.

“They’ll be going to bed unsafe tomorrow night.

“They’ll probably be going to bed unsafe at the sixth anniversary and the 10th anniversary at the rate the Government’s doing something.”

A Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities spokeswoman said: “The Grenfell Tower tragedy must never be allowed to happen again and our thoughts are with the bereaved families, survivors and residents at this time.

“We have introduced the biggest improvements to building safety in a generation, under the Building Safety Act, and our tough new stance has seen 45 of the UK’s biggest housebuilders pledge to contribute £5billion towards fixing their unsafe buildings.”

The Grenfell Tower – firefighters tackle the blaze