Angela Rayner has been accused of ignoring the concerns of bereaved Grenfell families over plans to demolish the tower block where 72 people died.
The Deputy Prime Minister, who is also Housing Secretary, met with bereaved families and survivors tonight to share the news with them.
What should happen to the site of the catastrophic fire has always split opinion, with some bereaved and survivors feeling the tower should remain in place until there are criminal prosecutions over the failings which led to the fire.
Ms Rayner’s move to dismantle the west London tower block was tonight branded ‘disgraceful and unforgivable’.
Grenfell United claimed Ms Rayner ‘refused to confirm how many bereaved and survivors’ had been spoken to about demolishing the tower, saying she was ignoring their voices ‘on the future of our loved ones’ gravesite.
The organisation, which represents some of the survivors and bereaved families of the disaster, said: ‘We’ve said this to every secretary of state for housing since the very beginning: consult the bereaved and survivors meaningfully before reaching a decision on the tower.
Angela Rayner has been accused of ignoring the concerns of bereaved Grenfell families
The Government has previously said there will be no changes to the site before the eighth anniversary of the disaster – which claimed 72 lives – in June
Grenfell Tower pictured the day after the fire
‘Angela Rayner could not give a reason for her decision to demolish the tower. She refused to confirm how many bereaved and survivors had been spoken to in the recent, short four-week consultation.
‘But judging from the room alone – the vast majority of whom were bereaved – no one supported her decision. But she claims her decision is based on our views.
‘Today’s meeting showed just how upset bereaved and survivors are about not having their views heard or considered in this decision.
‘Ignoring the voices of bereaved on the future of our loved ones’ gravesite is disgraceful and unforgivable.’
The Government has previously said there will be no changes to the site before the eighth anniversary of the disaster in June.
The Government has previously said structural engineering advice remained unchanged ‘in that the building (or that part of it that was significantly damaged) should be carefully taken down’. It is expected more details will be set out by the end of the week.
What is left of the tower has stood in place since the fatal fire on June 14 2017 with a covering on the building featuring a large green heart accompanied by the words ‘forever in our hearts’.
Police and prosecutors said, in May last year, that investigators would need until the end of 2025 to complete their inquiry, with final decisions on potential criminal charges by the end of 2026
The west London tower block was covered in combustible products because of the ‘systematic dishonesty’ of firms who made and sold the cladding and insulation, inquiry chairman Sir Martin Moore-Bick said
A spokesperson for Grenfell Next of Kin, a group who also represents some bereaved families, said the decision around the tower’s future was ‘obviously a very sensitive and difficult’ one.
They added: ‘For the next of kin of the deceased, that building is a shrine and the death place of their immediate families, their brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, husbands, wives and children – but they understand the hard facts around safety.’
A Government spokesperson said: ‘The priority for the Deputy Prime Minister is to meet with and write to the bereaved, survivors and the immediate community to let them know her decision on the future of the Grenfell Tower.
‘This is a deeply personal matter for all those affected, and the Deputy Prime Minister is committed to keeping their voice at the heart of this.’
The blaze, which was the worst in Britain for more than a generation, was accelerated by deadly combustible cladding and many of those who died had been told to stay in their flats.
It resulted in the deaths of 72 men, women and children, including multiple generations of the same families, living in the 120-apartment tower, built in Kensington – one of London’s richest areas.
The fire – the worst residential blaze since the Blitz – triggered mass protests about building standards, following months of concerns from Grenfell Tower residents about safety following its refurbishment.
The final report of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, published in September, concluded the disaster was the result of ‘decades of failure’ by government and the construction industry to act on the dangers of flammable materials on high-rise buildings.
The 72 victims of the Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017 are pictured as follows – (top row left to right) Mohammad Al-Haj Ali, Ya-Haddy Sisi Saye, also known as Khadija Saye, Anthony Disson, Khadija Khalloufi, Mary Mendy, Isaac Paulos, Sheila, Gloria Trevisan, Marco Gottardi, (second row left to right) Berkti Haftom, Ali Yarwar Jafari, Majorie Vital, Yahya Hashim, Hamid Kani, Jessica Urbano Ramirez, Zainab Deen, Nura Jemal, Jeremiah Deen, (third row left to right) Yasin El-Wahabi, Firdaws Hashim, Hashim Kedir, Debbie Lamprell, Ernie Vital, Sakina Afrasehabi, Denis Mur-phy, Raymond ‘Moses’ Bernard, Biruk Haftom, (fouth row left to right) Yaqub Hashim, Mehdi El-Wahabi, Ligaya Moore, Nur Huda El-Wahabi, Victoria King, Mo-hammed Amied Neda, Maria del Pilar Burton, Hesham Rahman, Gary Maunders, (fifth row left to right) Alexandra Atala, Vincent Chiejina, Steve Power, Rania Ibrahim, Fethia Hassan, Hania Hassan, Fathia Ahmed Elsanousi, Abufras Ibrahim (silhouette), Isra Ibrahim (silhouette), (sixth row left to right) Mariem Elgwahry, Eslah Elgwahry (silhouette), Mohamednur Tuccu, Amal Ahmedin, Amaya Tuccu-Ahmedin, Amna Mahmud Idris, Abdeslam Sebbar (silhouette) , Joseph Daniels (silhouette), Logan Gomes, (seventh row left to right) Omar Belkadi, Farah Hamdan, Malak Belkadi (silhouette), Leena Belkadi (silhouette), Abdulaziz El-Wahabi, Faouzia El-Wahabi, Fatemeh Afrasiabi, Kamru Miah, Rabeya Begum, (eighth row left to right) Mohammed Hamid, Mohammed Hanif, Husna Begum, Bassem Choukair, Nadia Choucair, Mierna Choucair, Fatima Choucair, Zainab Choucair and Sirria Choucair
The Grenfell Tower fire in West London in June 2017 left 72 people dead in a shocking tragedy
‘Unscrupulous’ manufacturers involved in the renovation of the 67-metre-tall tower a year earlier – including covering it in highly combustible cladding – were admonished for ‘systematic dishonesty’ and for ‘misleading customers’.
Architects demonstrated a ‘cavalier attitude’ to fire and safety regulations, while contractors and the cladding specialists did not properly concern themselves with the matter either.
Grenfell United said Sir Martin Moore-Bick’s findings made it clear their lawyers were correct to tell the inquiry that corporate bodies, such as Kingspan, Celotex and Arconic, were ‘little better than crooks and killers’.
He said the ‘simple truth’ is that all the deaths were avoidable and that those who lived in the tower were ‘badly failed’ by authorities ‘in most cases through incompetence but, in some cases, through dishonesty and greed’.
According to the update from police and prosecutors last year, the mammoth police investigation into the fire has already generated 27,000 lines of inquiry and more than 12,000 witness statements.
A total of 58 individuals and 19 companies and organisations are under investigation for potential criminal offences, and more than 300 hours of interviews have taken place.
Potential offences under consideration include corporate manslaughter, gross negligence manslaughter, perverting the course of justice, misconduct in public office, health and safety offences, fraud and offences under the fire safety and building regulations.
The near 10-year wait for justice has been described by families as ‘unbearable’.
Composite photograph showing how fire swept through Grenfell Tower in West London in 2017
Exhausted firefighters rest at the scene of the huge blaze at Grenfell Tower in June 2017
Members of the Grenfell community attend a silent walk to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the tower block fire in London, Britain, 14 June 2024
Separately, the Grenfell Tower Memorial Commission has been consulting on plans for a permanent memorial in the area of the tower.
In a 2023 report, the commission set out a series of recommendations for a ‘sacred space’, designed to be a ‘peaceful place for remembering and reflecting’.
It said the space should include a garden, a monument and a dedicated space for the private expression of grief and mourning for the families who lost loved ones.
A shortlist of five potential design teams was announced last month, and a winning design team is set to be selected this summer.
The commission said it expects the memorial design to be sufficiently developed to enable a planning application to be submitted in late 2026.
The Labour Party have been contacted for comment.
