Grenfell: Meaningless announcement on tower-block cladding won’t help residents – or the Tories
This is what happens when you encase a residential tower block in flammable cladding and then allow someone to set it alight.
After more than a year of reluctance, the Conservatives have decided to make it illegal to put flammable cladding on tower blocks – in a move transparently timed to make them look good during their party conference. There’s just one problem.
The government has no legal power to force change on existing structures, meaning this will only apply to new buildings – so it won’t change anything for the thousands of people living in towers like Grenfell who have been living in fear ever since that block turned into an inferno on June 14, 2017.
So James Brokenshire’s claim to be preventing another “unimaginable horror” like Grenfell is just a lot of hot air.
Don’t get me wrong; the change is good, as far as it goes – but it doesn’t go far enough. Why doesn’t the government have power to force change on existing structures, in the name of safety? And it is reasonable to ask why there wasn’t always a ban on flammable cladding around residential blocks.
Here‘s the story, as reported by The Independent:
“Flammable cladding will be banned on high rise buildings in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy.
“Housing Secretary James Brokenshire will vow to have building rules changed to prevent another “unimaginable horror” like the 2017 tragedy.
“The new regulation regime will apply to flat blocks over 18-metres tall, as well as care homes, schools and hospitals, and is set to come into force in late autumn.
“But the ban will only apply to new buildings – as the Government has no legal powers to force change on existing structures.”
So not only is Craig Murray right in what he says below…
One year late but timed for their party conference. The Tories take news management to an entirely new level of disgusting. https://t.co/hUh3boxSUP
— Craig Murray (@CraigMurrayOrg) September 30, 2018
… he doesn’t go far enough.
It is because their announcement is useless for any current tower block resident that this Tory attempt at news management has reached an entirely new level of disgusting.
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They should also pay All the funds that were raised and the interst acrued to the survivors, instead the Greedy Tories are profiting from the nations goodwill to the surivors by taking the interest payments of the money!!!
Joanna:- Tories will always put their own personal gain before the overall welfare of the country. Greedy and selfish doesn’t even begin to describe them.
Well what would one expect from these heartless Tory b******s
and after 8 long years of needless austerity where have all the so-called £billions of savings gone?
it’s weird because the country’s over a £trillion £ in debt??
“The government has no legal power to….” I thought the government created law in parliament?
Yes but those laws may be challenged by the courts and overturned. Therefore lawmaking itself takes place within legal guidelines.
I heard, on the B.B.C., I think it was, that flammable cladding was going to be banned on buildings above a certain number of storeys; 15? What’s the point? Just ban it!