PM apologises to victims for ‘failure of state’

THERESA May apologised to the Grenfell inferno victims yesterday over the disastrous handling of the tragedy.

She told the Commons she ‘took responsibility’, accepting that ‘the support on the ground for families in the initial hours was not good enough’ and there had been a ‘failure of the state, local and national to help people when they needed it most’.

She added: ‘As Prime Minister, I apologise for that failure.’ Mrs May – who faced a backlash for failing to meet survivors, their relatives and local residents in the wake of the inferno – confirmed a public inquiry and announced plans for a ‘civil disaster reaction taskforce’ to respond to future incidents.

The pledge came as it emerged that Kensington and Chelsea Council inspected renovation work at Grenfell 16 times but failed to prevent the use of the flammable cladding blamed for the rapid spread of the fire. Thousands of people attended the funeral yesterday of the first named victim of the tragedy, Syrian refugee Mohammad Alhajali, 23.

His family were flown over from Syria by the Home Office to attend the service at East London Mosque.

An inquest into the death of five of the victims was opened and adjourned at Westminster Coroner’s Court.

Coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox was told that four had died from smoke inhalation, the other after falling from the tower.