Council ‘could not tackle London fire’

BRITAIN’S opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn said yesterday the local authority in London where a fire killed at least 58 people last week did not have the resources to deal with an emergency of that scale.

He told ITV’s Peston that the community and emergency services were “incredible” in tackling the fire and its aftermath.

“What was less effective was the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, because they seemed to lack the resources to deal with a crisis of this magnitude in their borough and yet they are the country’s wealthiest borough,” the Labour leader said.

British finance minister Phillip Hammond said yesterday the government had acted on safety recommendations after an earlier fire in London in 2009, but would wait for the public inquiry to make changes in regulation.

Prime Minister Theresa May is under pressure after the devastating fire trapped people in their beds.

Opposition politicians claimed the government ignored recommendations from a 2013 review after another London fire killed six people.

“We have looked, obviously, at those recommendations and what has happened to them.

“My assessment is that we have responded correctly and appropriately to those recommendations,” Phillip Hammond told the BBC’s Andrew Marr show. — Reuters