The legacy of Grenfell

WHAT the Grenfell Tower inferno has exposed is the way social housing tenants are treated as second-class citizens.

Thousand of council blocks are lacking the most basic fire protections, with only one in 50 high-rises having sprinkler systems.

Putting in place safety improvements to protect residents must be done as a matter of urgency, not as an optional extra. The current delays border on the criminal. Protective measures will save lives and everyone should have the right to have their home safeguarded.

Where housing associations, councils or landlords fail to fulfil their obligations, these properties should be seized – a move that will undoubtedly be met by public approval.

The whole issue exposes the stupidity of the Conservative belief that austerity would be the answer to solving all our problems.

Grenfell remains a charred monument to that misplaced Tory economic policy.