Red Cross drafted in to help the victims

THE British Red Cross has been drafted in to help victims of the Grenfell Tower disaster as Theresa May condemned the local council’s immediate response to the crisis as ‘not good enough’.

Charities, government officials and other local authorities are also helping after Kensington and Chelsea council was sidelined amid mounting criticism.

Last night, residents who met Mrs May at Downing Street after the fire said they were grateful to her for listening to their concerns but added there was an urgent need for ‘real action and immediate results’.

After hearing their concerns, Mrs May praised the response of the fire brigade, police, NHS services and local community as ‘heroic’ but criticised the service of Kensington and Chelsea council.

She said: ‘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.’

However, council leader Nick Paget-Brown insisted: ‘There is an effective, co-ordinated relief effort on the ground and I’m sorry if people haven’t seen that.’

Mrs May said she had fixed a deadline of three weeks for everybody affected to be rehoused locally.