Grenfell Tower Report: ‘All 72 Deaths Were Avoidable’ | This Morning

I wonder if we can start with you because of course it was uh 2017 everybody will be vividly remember what happened with the devastation of the greld fire uh for the last six years a report has been gathered as to what happened and how it happened and what we can learn from it that report has just been published I know that you've been doing a special on this this morning can you just explain a little bit to our viewers what that report uh has brought to light and also the some of the reaction that you've had from your uh listeners it's brought to light Ben morning to you all the most apping catalog of government incompetence local government indifference from the local Authority uh greed and lying from the manufacturers and a picture that sadly is one of no action taken and each of those 72 lives could have been saved and we should probably point out actually Ben this covers political parties of all colors because actually the warnings were there during the 1990s when the labor party were in power when David Cameron came in with a libdem coalition the conservative prime minister with the libdem Coalition he continued to do away with various building regulations and then of course we know that it was on a separate conservative government that they decided that the community secretary even more regulations would go so effectively you had a product that was known to be dangerous that was misrepresented by manufacturers that was allowed to be put on buildings and no action was taken sadly while not questioning For a Moment The Bravery of the firefighters involved even the London fire brigade comes in for some criticism because they knew of the dangers of the cladding they didn't act offer enough active training and they didn't actually give the right advice they didn't try and get people out of the building initially telling them to stay where they are and we all know what happened to sum up the views of the callers today Ben I mean what you have here is 1 million words 117 Pages 6 and a half years after 72 lives but zero chance of Justice because it could be another 18 months the Metropolitan police the London Police now have to study this report before any charges can be laid and that is the feeling in over in Notting Hill in the part of London and with my listeners people who are guilty politicians owners of companies they need to be gripping the rail in the Old Bailey and it's a long ways off I think Vanessa some of the the anecdotally some of the things I heard from from survivors from and from family members that had lost uh had been had family members that were lost in the fire they want someone to be held responsible for this they want criminal prosecutions for those people that Nick has pointed out from this report who have been negligent in this scenar absolutely I mean I mean Nick and I were both broadcasting on the day and I think we were absolutely the whole world actually everyone watched this story all over the world were horrified at this appalling tragedy we'll never forget the sight of people with their bodies pressed against windows on the higher floors of that Tower block but I think the only thing that Nick hasn't said in His Brilliant summary of this tragedy is that these were the people that everybody thought could be ignored so these were were people who were living in social housing who didn't have power didn't have influence many many of them came from other countries in the world originally maybe English wasn't necessarily their first language these were the people who were not powerful enough or considered important enough to be listened to so it wasn't that they didn't realize that the building was dangerous it wasn't that there weren't campaigns going on by the residents for years and years to try to alert the council the government anyone who can make a difference to their concerns and worries about the safety of the building it wasn't that it was just no one listened no one cared they were the sort of people that people imp power considered could be ignored they didn't count and they didn't matter and look what happened 72 of them died and it's even been found by Sir Martin morck in this utterly heart-rending report that that that um Kensington Chelsea Council didn't even deal with the survivors properly the day after they didn't even hear see a knowledge the agony the anguish the bereavement the devastation to their whole lives I remember interviewing one lady One Survivor the only thing she had in her hand when she finally got out of that burning building was her door key there's no door there's no apartment there's no possessions there's not a single photograph of her entire life you know imagine it and imagine losing all your family at the same time it is really the most I mean this this report blaming everyone really for dishonesty for for for treating people other human beings with contempt to prioriti for prioritizing money and Prestige you know the head of the council was only careful about how the council would look and you know projecting a good image why was there cladding on the building in the first place people were always asking was it because they didn't want the building to be an eyes saw so that the people with expensive houses nearby wouldn't lose the value of their expensive properties you know these are people who were who were you know ground underfoot anyway and then treated appallingly and you know we want the police to get their skates on and we want the cleverest lawyers in the land to dismantle the complexity Nick the Prime Minister has said this is a moment of change that's what he's promised we don't know what that change is yet and and the question everyone will be is why is it going to take a further 18 months for any sort of criminal or police investigation to to some come to some sort of prosecution for those responsible and I think that speaks to a problem within the British setup because often politicians say when there are terrible events we need an inquiry we need a Bloody Sunday inquiry a savel inquiry and I'm not and indeed we are having a CO inquiry these are events that do need to have come under the full inspection but something needs to be done to speed this up this has taken years now when Theresa May the then prime minister announced a public inquiry that legally stops the police taking any action you can't have a police evidence going on and a public so that stopped the police I would question you possibly need to set a time limit on a public inquiry for the purpose of debate let's just say 12 months and that's it and then that allows the police to move because now as they've said this morning Ben they're looking to 12 to 18 months as they review quotes line by line those 1,700 Pages I'm not knocking the police I'm sure they have but justice has already been denied sadly there will be victims families and others who were caught up in this who will die through natural causes still not knowing if anyone's brought to Justice and I think that is one of the gravest errors here yeah it's a definitely a complicated thank you for visiting our this morning YouTube channel we upload new content every day so go ahead and hit that subscribe button so you don't miss out and we'll see you in the morning