A government drive for deregulation meant concerns about the safety of life were “ignored, delayed or disregarded” in the years before the Grenfell Tower fire, the inquiry into the disaster has found.
In its final report, published on Wednesday, the seven-year inquiry said civil servants had felt unable to raise concerns about fire safety due to a focus on deregulation, and accused ministers and senior officials of a “serious failure of leadership” in allowing such a culture to develop.
But the inquiry – led by retired judge Sir Martin Moore-Bick – went further, saying the government had “failed to discharge” its responsibilities to ensure public safety for more than 25 years after a major fire in 1991 at Knowsley Heights, Merseyside.
After coming to power in 2010, the then-coalition government and its Conservative successor, elected in 2015, pursued a deregulation drive, including a “one in, two out” policy for new regulation that the inquiry said put civil servants under pressure to reduce red tape.
In January 2014, the then-prime minister David Cameron boasted about plans to boost housebuilding by cutting 100 overlapping and ‘confusing’ standards for new homes.
In a speech to the Federation of Small Business Cameron said 100 standards and building regulations were facing the bonfire – a move which he claimed would save around £60 million a year for housebuilders – or £500 for each new home built.
Reacting to the news at the time, the UK Green Building Council said the prime minister’s claims were ‘utterly reprehensible’.
Paul King, chief executive of the UK-GBC, said: “It is the same poisonous political rhetoric from Number 10, devaluing environmental regulation in a slash and burn manner.
“These words are not only damaging and irresponsible, but misrepresent the wishes of so many modern businesses, both large and small.”
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