Grenfell group threatens to boycott inquiry
SURVIVORS of the Grenfell Tower fire will boycott the public inquiry into the disaster unless the judge who has been chosen to lead it is removed, the group representing them has said.
The current proposals are for the inquiry to examine how the fire started and how it developed so rapidly, but calls have been made for the investigation to be widened.
Sir Martin Moore-bick, the retired Court of Appeal judge who specialised in commercial law in a career spanning nearly 50 years, will look into the blaze which killed at least 80 people in west London last month. But last night, a coordinator for the Justice4grenfell group said that they would not take part in the inquiry unless the scope is widened and Sir Martin is removed.
It came as one Labour MP questioned why Sir Martin had been appointed in the first place as a “white, upper-middle class man” who has “never visited a tower block”.
Yesterday, it also emerged that questions still lingered over the official death toll from the fire, as critics alleged residents may not have come forward if they were illegally subletting apartments. Sue Caro, the coordinator for the Justice4grenfell group, said the inquiry should look at a number of wider issues, including the state of social housing and the response to the tragedy.
“Our line is that we will not contribute to the inquiry in its current form,” she told The Daily Telegraph.
“We want the terms of reference to be considerably wider and we also have concerns about who will lead the inquiry. So unless the scope is widened
and the judge removed then we won’t take part.”
She added that Sir Martin’s specialism in commercial law and one of his rulings – in which he was accused of “social cleansing of the poor” after saying a tenant could be rehoused 50 miles away when she was made homeless – meant “he was not the most appropriate person to lead the inquiry”.
Sir Martin has previously said the investigation must get “to the truth as quickly as possible”, but admitted he was “doubtful” it would be far-reaching enough to satisfy survivors.
Labour MP David Lammy, whose friend Khadija Saye died in the fire, said it was a “shame” a woman or someone from an ethnic minority was not leading the investigation. He told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday that Sir Martin would have to work hard to maintain the confidence of victims.
“He is a white, upper-middle class man who I suspect has never, ever visited a tower block housing estate and certainly hasn’t slept the night on the 20th floor of one,” he said. “I hope he would do that in the days ahead. The job is not just to be independent and judicious – I am sure he is eminently legally qualified, of course he is – it is also to be empathetic and walk with these people on this journey.”
Andrew Bridgen, the Conservative MP for North West Leicestershire, accused Mr Lammy of “trying to politicise the inquiry”.
Meanwhile, Communities Secretary Sajid Javid has announced nobody who was unlawfully renting out their property in the building would face charges.
A No 10 spokesperson said Sir Martin is “highly respected and hugely experienced” and that residents “would be consulted on the terms of reference” and “get the support they need to participate fully in the inquiry”. l A fire has swept through a new block of luxury flats in east London, with reports it may have been started by a solar panel. London Fire Brigade said 80 firefighters were battling the blaze.