Volunteer says survivors get £10 to live on as council leader defends response

SURVIVORS OF the Grenfell Tower blaze are being given just £10 to live on by the council, a volunteer claimed yesterday.

West London film producer Nisha Parti, who has been helping victims in Kensington, said the cash was being given to those checking into hotels.

She claimed volunteers were unable to get hold of any money, despite huge donations of cash and Theresa May pledging £5m in emergency funds.

Ms Parti said: “Kensington and Chelsea are giving £10 to the survivors when they go to hotels.

“There is money pouring in from all these amazing volunteers, we can’t get access to the money and we cannot get it to the families.”

Kensington MP Emma Dent Coad said survivors were being repeatedly moved around as well.

She said that they were hearing stories of people not being allocated properly, including one mother and child moved three times.

The revelations came as the leader of the council insisted there is an “effective, co-ordinated” relief effort on the ground, despite intense criticism over its handling of disaster.

Nick Paget-Brown, the Tory leader of Kensington and Chelsea council, said there were officials on the ground “very soon” after the fire broke out to help residents, but he sidestepped questions over whether he feels guilty about what happened.

Prime Minister Theresa May has said the support given to survivors and the families of those who died was “not good enough” and there were “huge frustrations” on the ground as people struggled to find information.

Asked if he would resign, Mr Paget-Brown insisted: “That’s not a matter for now.”