Awkward questions no one will answer about Grenfell Tower

‘ ’ Sadly, we’ll never know definitively how many died, or who they all were

WE MAY never know precisely how many people perished in the gruesome Grenfell Tower fire tragedy. The latest official figure is ‘at least’ 80, but officials admit that the death toll could be higher.

The main reason that we will almost certainly fail to reach a definitive total is because nobody seems to have the faintest idea how many people were actually living there.

Originally, we were told the building contained 120 one and two-bedroomed flats, occupied by as many as 600 tenants. That was later revised to 129 flats, but without any exact number of residents.

Police now say they have established who was in 106 of the flats on the night of the fire, either living there full-time or visiting. But that still leaves 23 premises unaccounted for. On a rough estimate of five occupants per apartment, that could be as many as another 100 people missing.

This column is not in the habit of giving any credence to politically-motivated Leftwing conspiracy theorists, but there does appear to be some firm evidence to support those who claim that the death toll is considerably higher than the authorities are prepared to admit.

Either those who are unaccounted for are presumed dead, but not yet included in the total number of deceased, or they have vanished ‘ into the community’ because they are worried about their immigration status.

That’s why the Government has announced a temporary amnesty for all survivors living in Britain illegally. It is the only humane course of action. Those who were fortunate to escape this awful catastrophe have been through enough trauma already without having to worry about being arrested and deported if they come forward.

Difficult questions will have to be addressed in time, however. And not just about attributing blame for the fire. What happened at Grenfell Tower isn’t simply about safety, it goes to the very heart of successive governments’ policies on immigration and social housing.

Ten per cent of those who died are said to be of Moroccan heritage. A further eight per cent were Ethiopian. To describe the residents of this block as a ‘community’ is a stretch. Grenfell Tower was a veritable Disunited Nations.

The days when most Londoners knew their neighbours are long gone. Today, the population is drawn from all over the globe, a significant proportion of them probably here illegally.

Forgive me for repeating the story of how a former Met Police commissioner told me 15 years ago that there were at least 250,000 people in London that the authorities knew nothing about.

Goodness knows what that figure is today, but those responsible for finding out seem not to have the slightest interest.

The difficulty in establishing the identities of all those who lived in Grenfell Tower throws this neglect into stark relief.

The usual suspects will no doubt try to shut down this discussion by howling ‘ RAY- CIST!’ and accusing anyone who even raises such awkward questions of ‘victim blaming’.

But that would be deliberately to miss the point. This isn’t about any individual, or racial minority. As I’ve written often enough, I don’t criticise anybody who wants to come to Britain to make a better life for themselves and their families — although I can’t imagine that ending up in an overcrowded flat on the 99th floor of a tower block overlooking a fumespewing urban motorway is anyone’s idea of heaven on earth.

We are, however, entitled to expect that those we entrust with running our nation’s affairs can be bothered to ensure that everyone who settles in Britain does so legally. And that they are not content to shove those who do slip through the net into substandard accommodation and forget about them.

Grenfell Tower represents all that is wrong with our social housing stock in microcosm, not just in London but throughout Britain.

Council estates were built to provide homes for local people. That original purpose has been abandoned, as politics has come into play from both sides of the ideological divide.

The Tories sold off the more desirable council houses, part of a hugely popular programme to create a nation of homeowners. But much of what was left became a dumping ground for problem families and recent immigrants.

Complex points systems evolved, which gave new arrivals priority. In some London boroughs, the waiting list for a council flat is now anything up to 50 years, yet people from overseas seem to have no difficulty getting one.

For instance, after Grenfell Tower, other councils began evacuating blocks with similar flammable cladding. In Camden, North London, TV pictures showed tenants from every conceivable ethnic background being ushered towards a nearby community centre, with the usual complement of women in Islamic headgear.

What struck me, though, were two white interviewees: an American woman and an Australian man. They were no older than 30 and neither appeared to be destitute or unemployed.

I’m assuming they are both here legally. And, no, they weren’t living together in the same flat.

I couldn’t help wondering: how on earth did they manage to get the keys to a Camden council tower block? Especially when those who grew up in the immediate vicinity are told they haven’t got a cat-in-hell’s chance of qualifying for a council house before they reach retirement age.

To whom are they paying rent? To the council, to a housing association, or to a private landlord? This is where it all starts getting a bit murky. Many former council flats were sold under the Tories’ right-to-buy scheme and the owners are free to do with them as they wish. Others have now been passed on to housing associations.

In the case of Grenfell Tower, the authorities now freely concede that some of the flats were being sub-let, against the terms of the legal tenant’s lease agreement.

Shouldn’t they have known that already? Isn’t that their job?

Why did it take a disaster and the loss of ‘at least’ 80 lives for them to find out?

STILL, the only surprise is that anyone’s surprised. The administration of what was once exclusively council accommodation is increasingly confused.

No one seems to know what the hell’s going on when it comes to ‘social housing’.

Go to pretty much any estate in London and you will find plenty of occupants whose names aren’t on the rent book. Rogue landlords prey on those desperate for a roof over their heads, especially recent arrivals with little if any command of English. Is it any wonder that those living here without proper immigration status keep themselves to themselves? Many of them are working in the black economy and wisely avoid all contact with officialdom.

My assumption is that the picture is the same in most, if not all, of our large cities. It’s what happens when you keep importing hundreds of thousands of people every year without considering where they’re going to live.

The Grenfell Tower tragedy has thrown up all manner of difficult questions which urgently demand answers. Yet all we get is puerile political point-scoring about ‘Tory cuts’, insane accusations of ‘murder’, and ridiculous squabbling over whether a middle-aged white judge is the right person to chair an official inquiry.

What we do know already, without any need for an inquiry, is that those charged with running our immigration system and ensuring that they know who is actually living in so- called social housing are guilty at the very least of gross dereliction of duty.

A few heads will roll, a report will be published, fingers will be pointed, ‘lessons will be learned’, but the fundamental, underlying problems will never properly be addressed.

Sadly, too, we will never know definitively how many died, who they all were, where they came from or why they had to end up perishing in a towering inferno in West London.