Response to inferno lax - May
"Victims have concerns their voice will not be heard, that their many questions about this tragedy will not be answered. That is why I ordered a public inquiry, with the costs for providing victims with legal representation met by Government. The inquiry will be open and transparent.'' Prime Minister Theresa May
BRITAIN: The official response to the London tower fire catastrophe ‘‘was not good enough’’, Theresa May admitted yesterday as the death toll exceeded that of Britain’s worst fires since World War II.
In a significant admission of failure in getting to grips with the scale of the disaster, in which at least 58 people are now feared dead - more than in the Bradford stadium blaze, which killed 56 in 1985, the Prime Minister said:
‘‘Frankly, the support on the ground for families who needed help or basic information in the initial hours after this appalling disaster was not good enough,’’ she said. ‘‘I have heard the concerns and I have ordered immediate action across the board to help victims’ relatives and the survivors.’’
The Prime Minister, who has come in for widespread criticism for her response to the crisis, spoke after meeting victims of the disaster at No 10 for two and a half hours. May announced that the cost for victims of legal representation at the public inquiry would be met by the Government. And she ordered more staff to go into the area around Grenfell Tower to assist the co-ordination of the relief effort.
’’There have been huge frustrations that people do not know who to talk to, that they can’t get through on the council hotlines. I have ordered that more staff be deployed across the area, wearing high-visibility clothing, so they can easily be found, dispense advice and ensure the right support is provided. Phone lines will have more staff,’’ May said. ‘‘Victims have concerns their voice will not be heard, that their many questions about this tragedy will not be answered. That is why I ordered a public inquiry, with the costs for providing victims with legal representation met by Government. The inquiry will be open and transparent. Government and ministers will co-operate fully.’’
But families who met the Prime Minister indicated they were still angry at the slow response to their plight and her decision not to meet victims until nearly three days after the fire. Leaving the Downing Street meeting, one member of the group said: ‘‘We have had two and a half hours with the Prime Minister in the last 48 hours and spoke about demands and what we expect. You will hear from us in due course.’’
In a sign of the continuing anger following the fire, protesters gathered outside the gates of Downing Street chanting ‘‘Go Jeremy Corbyn’' and waving placards that said ‘‘Defy Tory rule’ '.
After a church service for victims’ families, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the Archbishop of Westminster, urged those affected to deal with their anger is a ‘‘constructive, not a divisive way’’.
May’s admission came as the Government announced a minute’s silence at 11am on Monday (local time) in remembrance of the fire’s victims.
Ministers also said they would provide an additional £1.5 million ($NZ2.6M) to pay for mental health support to the emergency services and bereavement support for victims’ families.
Desperate families have continued to put up posters appealing for any information about the fate of their loved ones, four days after the fire tore through the 24-storey block in west London. But police have warned it could still take weeks to find and identify all those lost.
Commander Stuart Cundy, of the Metropolitan Police, has confirmed that 30 people are known to have perished, but that an additional 28 people known to have been in the building are also thought to be among the victims. ’’That number 58 may change. I really hope it won’t, but it may increase. Our focus has been on those that we know were in Grenfell Tower. However, there may be other people who were in there on the night that others were not aware were there. That is also an absolute priority for the investigation - to establish who they may be.’’
He added that the London Fire Brigade had now conducted a visual search of ‘‘every floor of the building’’ and had recovered 16 bodies. - Telegraph Group