Tory council’s money-grubbing led to the Grenfell Tower tragedy and dozens of deaths
If only this revelation had been released last week.
The message is clear: Conservative councils don’t care about people. They don’t care about safety. They don’t care about human lives.
They care about money.
That is why, according to current figures, 72 people died in an inferno that could have been prevented if the Conservative councillors in Kensington and Chelsea had only chosen safety over savings.
Today (May 9), in Prime Minister’s Questions, Theresa May has been crowing about the fact that the Conservatives have managed to hang on to control of councils across the UK.
It means the Tories remain free to terrorise people in those council areas – to inflict lower safety standards on them, and ultimately to put their lives in danger as well. I don’t think that is any reason to celebrate.
A costed proposal to fit Grenfell Tower with panels that did not burn was dropped amid pressure from the Conservative council to slash the cost of the refurbishment, the Guardian has been told.
A cladding company which fits nonflammable aluminium panels claimed it provided a £3.3m quote to fit its system to the 24-storey tower in west London at the request of Leadbitter, Kensington and Chelsea’s preferred contractor in 2013.
But a few months later the council decided Leadbitter wanted to spend too much on the refurbishment and put the contract out to tender to save £1.3m. It selected Rydon, which provided a lower price but fitted the building with combustible cladding which caught fire on 14 June 2017, killing 72 people in what lawyers for victims have called a “national atrocity”.
If the solid aluminium cladding had been chosen it would have almost certainly saved lives, fire safety experts said, and it could also have been cheaper. The council’s housing arm ended up agreeing to a budget which put the cost for the plastic-filled aluminium panels and synthetic insulation which burned so fiercely at £3.5m – £200,000 more than the quote for the noncombustible materials.
Source: Grenfell Tower: fire-resistant cladding plan was dropped | UK news | The Guardian
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No matter how nasty Tories are, a proportion of working-class people still vote for them – something which has always baffled me.
And still no one brought to book
whatwould privately educated Tory politicians know or understand about real life- they inhabit a bubble
Yes it is a shame this info wasn’t made public before the council elections last Thursday.
Maybe it wasn’t made public deliberately?
But I’m confused. If Kensington & Chelsea Council put the contract for the cladding of Grenfell out to re-tender in order to save £1.3m over the original quote of £3.3m, then how come they ended up spending £200,000 more than the original non-combustible quote for vastly inferior cladding?
Sounds well dodgy to me. The Fraud office should be called in to investigate in my opinion.
official figure72 people died in an inferno while the firemen had said many many more but then the Torys are good at hiding figures
I think we urgently need another ‘Public Inquiry’ in this ‘civilized’, truth seeking, ‘god’ fearing, introverted, little island of ours? Why are ‘conservatives’ so apparently successful when their policies are so evidently lethal to so many?
And how much money will be spent on the Royal Wedding alone? then there’s Big Ben & how much for refitment of HOC? & rees-mog’s home
and IDS breakfasts?