Ex-minister rejected plan to beef up appliance recalls

A TORY business minister rejected recommendations designed to protect families against deathtrap household appliances.

Witnesses to the Grenfell tragedy claim it was triggered by an explosion in a fridge in a flat on one of the lower floors.

Many of the 4,000 fires caused by faulty appliances every year involve items that have been subject to a safety recall, but under the current recall system, 80 per cent of them are never traced. In 2015, the Government asked consumer champion Lynn Faulds Wood to review the recall system.

However, she said former Tory business minister Anna Soubry ignored her recommendations, and the review was ‘kicked into the long grass’. Miss Faulds Wood said: ‘I was really disappointed, completely disappointed.’

Miss Soubry said: ‘I pay tribute to Lynn’s work and I felt we worked very well together.’