Locals’ trust in the authorities is falling and suspicion of a cover-up is rising…

DEATHTRAP TOWER: TORY STARTS NEW CLADDING ROW Lammy hits out at response

FEARS of a Grenfell Tower inferno cover-up have emerged as a row erupted over whether the cladding on the building was legal. Labour MP David Lammy demanded immediate seizure of all documents relevant to the blaze, saying contractors are deleting evidence of their work on the tower from their websites. Mr Lammy added: “Within the community, trust in the authorities is falling through the floor and suspicion of a cover-up is rising.” It came as Chancellor Philip Hammond said the cladding on the building was illegal in the UK, and Labour’s Keir Starmer revealed lawyers are looking at manslaughter charges for those responsible for the deaths. Mr Lammy, whose friend Khadija Saye was killed in the blaze last week, said the police have powers to seize papers and records. But he added that the section of the Inquiries Act that makes the destruction of documents a criminal offence does not apply until someone has been appointed to chair the inquiry and the terms of reference are set. He added: “The Prime Minister has failed to provide the required leadership in recent days and there is real and justifiable anger within the community. “But this is not about the Prime Minister’s character, this is about the injustices that caused the Grenfell fire and the action we need to see now to secure justice for those who are suffering.” He added: “The Prime Minister needs to act immediately to ensure all evidence is protected so that everyone culpable for what happened at Grenfell Tower is held to account. “We need urgent action now to make sure all records and documents relating to the refurbishment and management of Grenfell Tower are protected.” He said: “When the truth comes out, we may find there is blood on the hands of a number of organisations. It is my grave concern that the families of Grenfell Tower will not get justice if documents are being quietly destroyed and shredded, and emails are being deleted.” He also hit out at Kensington and Chelsea council for giving taxpayers a £100 rebate last year while sitting on millions of pounds of reserves. He said the rebate could have paid for sprinklers in high-rise blocks. The final death toll is not yet known. Police say they believe the number of people unaccounted for after the blaze at the 24-storey block in Kensington, West London, has increased from 58. Former Director of Public Prosecutions Mr Starmer said prosecutors were advising police. Asked on The Andrew Marr Show if they would be looking into manslaughter charges, he replied: “Yes, when we were looking at this when I was DPP in relation to other fires, we were looking at manslaughter charges.” Mr Hammond told the programme: “My understanding is… this flammable cladding which is banned in Europe and the US, is also banned here. So there are two questions. One, are our regulations correct, do they permit the right kind of materials? The second question is were they correctly complied with?” Contractors are reported to have saved £5,000 by using aluminium cladding Reynobond PE, which has a polyethylene core that is not fire resistant. The Department for Communities and Local Government said: “Cladding using a composite aluminium panel with a polythene core should not be used for cladding on a building taller than 18 metres.” One of the manufacturers of Reynobond PE said it is not outlawed. John Cowley, of CEP Architectural Facades which fabricated the rainscreen panels and windows for the tower’s cladding sub-contractor Harley Facades Ltd, said: “Reynobond PE is not banned in the UK. Current building regulations allow its use in both low-rise and high-rise structures. “The key question now is whether the overall design of the building’s complete exterior was properly tested and signed off by the relevant authorities.” Mr Hammond questioned if sprinklers would have saved lives, saying: “My understanding is that the best expert advice is that retrofitting sprinklers may not always be the best technical way of ensuring fire safety in a building.” Jon O’neill, of the Fire Protection Association, said sprinklers would have made it easier to rescue people and would have “increased survivability”. Experts say it would have cost around £200,000 to install a sprinkler system.