Grenfell Tower fire report: Deaths of 72 victims due to 'incompetence, dishonesty, greed'

Sept. 4 (UPI) -- The final report into Britain's Grenfell fire released Wednesday found the loss of all 72 people who were killed was "avoidable" and residents of the high-rise London apartment block were "badly failed" by those who should have kept them and the building safe.

In a no-holds-barred summation, Retired appeal court judge, Sir Martin Moore-Bick, who led the 6-year inquiry into the June 2017 fire, the most deadly since the Blitz in World War II, said the failings were mostly due to " incompetence, dishonesty and greed ," although he qualified his criticism by saying that not all the parties bore the same degree of culpability.

The 1,694-page report singled out central and local government for "ignoring, delaying or disregarding" the danger posed by flammable exterior insulation cladding rolled out in upgrade programs for aging public housing projects but said the manufacturers of the product bore the largest responsibility by "deliberately concealing" fire risks.

Sir Martin accused the then-Conservative government, but also governments going back almost 30 years of not taking the time to look into the cladding issue and cladding manufacturer Arconic of knowingly keeping the risk its product posed a secret.

Celotex and Kingspan, which produced insulation, were found to have "misled" while the tenant management organization set up by Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to run the housing project had an ingrained "indifference to fire safety, particularly the safety of vulnerable people."

The borough's TMO was found to have rigged the tendering process to ensure its chosen architect won the Grenfell upgrade contract despite the fact it had no track record with cladding on high-rise towers.

The report cast the architect, Studio E, and another firm, Harley Facades, as "incompetent" companies with "significant" responsibility for the tragedy. Rydon, the project manager, supervised the refurbishment scheme in a way that resulted in an accountability vacuum where no one took responsibility.

The Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition of former prime minister David Cameron , which came into office in 2010 a year before the Grenfell upgrade project got underway came in for criticism for safety being "ignored, delayed or disregarded" in its rush to slash regulation as part of an effort to boost the economy post-financial crisis.

The inquiry also accused the London Fire Brigade of holding "unfounded" assumptions that what occurred at Grenfell Tower was not possible and as a result having no preset plan to evacuate the residents -- whom they had instructed to stay put and await rescue -- once they had lost control of the situation.

Addressing parliament, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said it should never have happened and pledged a "generational shift" to address the quality and safety of housing.

"In the memory of Grenfell, we will change our country. We will bring the full power of government to bear on this task, because that is the responsibility of service and the duty we owe to the memory of every one of the 72," Starmer said addressing victims' families and survivors.

"I want to say very clearly from the whole country, you have been let down so badly - before, during and in the aftermath of this tragedy,"

He said the failures and "many missed opportunities" of governments of both parties to pinpoint the risks of flammable cladding and insulation on buildings brought up "fundamental questions about the kind of country we are."

Starmer also promised justice for the victims.

Responding to a question from the MP for the area of west London where Grenfell is located regarding the criminal prosecution of those responsible and banning them from future government contracts, Starmer promised to do "everything to make sure there is full accountability and that criminal prosecutions go ahead".

However, the Crown Prosecution Service said the weight and complexity of the evidence it needed to investigate meant it was unlikely to file any Grenfell-related charges before the end of next year.

Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also apologized, saying the report was a "damning indictment of over 30 years of successive state failures" in what he said was a sorry story of "systemic indifference, failure" and "dishonesty and greed".

"It was their tenacity and strength that brought the truth to light," he said, adding they will never forget the 72 people who lost their lives and "nor shall we".

The group representing survivors welcomed the report as a "significant chapter in the journey to truth justice and change."

"The inquiry report reveals that whenever there's a clash between corporate interest and public safety, governments have done everything they can to avoid their responsibilities to keep people safe," Grenfell United said in a statement on its X account.

"The system isn't broken. It was built this way."