Theresa May apologises to Grenfell Tower victims for disaster response
2 min read
Theresa May today apologised to victims of the Grenfell Tower tragedy as she admitted the initial support on the ground was “not good enough”.
The Prime Minister was condemned after she initially failed to meet victims of the devastating blaze and was slow to provide a support package for those affected.
Some 79 people have been presumed dead after fire ripped through the west London high-rise last week - with the death toll expected to rise.
It took two days before a £5m package was announced to help support and rehouse victims, while critics said help on the ground in the immediate aftermath appeared chaotic.
But today the Prime Minister issued a full mea culpa after plans for a full public inquiry on the Grenfell tragedy were laid out in the Queen’s Speech,
“Let me be absolutely clear: The support on the ground for families in the initial hours was not good enough,” she said.
“That was a failure of the state – local and national – to help people when they needed it most.
“As Prime Minister, I apologise for that failure and as Prime Minister I’ve taken responsibility for doing what we can to put things right.”
Among the concerns in the aftermath of the tragedy were a lack of any central missing persons list and fears victims might be housed far away from where they lived.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn branded the Grenfell fire a “tragedy and an outraged” and suggested cuts in public spending were at least partly to blame.
“Lessons must be learnt in the public inquiry and a disaster that never should have happened must never happen again,” he said.
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