Inquiry opens with survivors' confidence low
This live blog is closing now. Below a summary of what it has covered.
The chair of the public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower tragedy, Sir Martin Moore-Bick, has opened proceedings with a statement delivered in central London, which can be read in full here.
- The inquiry will have two phases that will run simultaneously. Phase one will look at how the fire it started and spread. It will also cover the responses of the emergency services and the evacuation of residents. Phase two will look at the design and refurbishment of the building and relevant decision-making processes. It will also include the efforts to provide food and shelter to survivors.
- Moore-Bick and those in attendance observed a minute’s silence for those who died in the fire and the retired judge repeated the police’s belief that the final death toll will eventually be confirmed as about 80 people. There was some anger at his refusal to answer questions after delivering his statement, with some people heckling him as he left the room and others accusing him of lacking respect for survivors of the disaster.
- While the event itself was well-attended, a screening of it held near the tower was less so and people there said they lacked confidence in the inquiry.
- Moore-Bick published a list of issues the inquiry will look at, which he said would change as evidence was presented.
- There have been around 300 applications for core participant status in the inquiry. Some have already been granted.
- Moore-Bick was keen to stress that the inquiry’s hearings will usually be held in public and sought the legitimacy that such transparency would offer his investigation.
- He also said that, while the law bars him from deciding on criminal or civil liability, it does not stop him saying where he thinks the evidence suggests they lie.
- Survivors will not be asked to serve on the panel in order to ensure independence, he said.
- A silent march is planned for 6.30pm.
You can read more of our coverage here:
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Melanie Phelan, a local community activist from northern Kensington, said she had also asked the inquiry’s officials in the Connaught Rooms whether Moore-Bick could not come back to answer questions from relatives and survivors “because of the strength of feeling in the room” for him to return.
She was told that, as had been announced beforehand, Moore-Bick would not be taking any questions. Phelan said: “They don’t seem to be be very empathetic or even listening. We wanted him to listen to the survivors.”
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A former resident of the tower who attended the Connaught Rooms meeting, Sid-Ali Atmani, said he was disappointed by Moore-Bick’s tone:
I wanted more compassion to come out. I don’t know he doesn’t want [any local residents on the advisory panel] . He seems to be choosing his own people.
It was bad. We are not going to give up. He should at least have stayed for another 10 minutes to speak to our lawyers. I wanted more passion.
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The local Labour councillor Robert Atkinson said this was just the beginning of a new chapter in the process.
His [Moore-Bick’s] role is to get to the truth – not to prosecute people or to allocate money. It was the event I expected. People should not expect a judge to be empathetic.
Some local residents stayed behind at the church after the statement, discussing services being provided for the community by the NHS and the council. The conversation became heated and left one person in tears.
The entrance to the church is still decorated with fresh flowers, left by visitors honouring the dead.
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There was unhappiness among some of the people who watched the statement screening in the Methodist church by Grenfell Tower that it was going to be Easter before the first phase of the process was finished. There was also widely shared disappointment that there was not going to be a formal role for a local resident.
“It is so unfair that no one from the community will be involved. It’s not representative,” one resident, evacuated from the building next to the tower and still living in a hotel, said, asking not to be named.
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Commenting on Moore-Bick’s opening statement, the experienced inquiry solicitor Louise Christian said:
Bereaved families don’t need to hear all about the font size of legal submissions and how many days in advance skeleton arguments need to be submitted.
This appeared to be a hearing for the sake of a hearing. He should have addressed himself to the families’ concerns.
Moore-Bick spent a portion of his opening statement setting out the details of how submissions should be made – including the size of the font and other minutiae.
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Marcia Haynes, who lives near the tower, and who knew one of the victims, said she was angry that no one from the community was to be given a formal role as an assessor on the inquiry. “There is no one who will represent us.”
She said confidence in the process was low, even before the inquiry began.
We are used to inquiries in this country. They drag them out for years. We’re not going to let that happen. This community won’t allow it.
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Sharon Leci, who escaped from the ninth floor of the tower with her seven-year-old daughter, said:
I don’t have a lot of confidence in the inquiry. I know it’s a separate process, but based on what I have experienced so far in the months since the fire, I don’t have confidence in anything at the moment. My level of trust and confidence in them all is very low.
She said she was glad the actions of the fire services would be investigated.
The fire brigade saved our lives. We were asleep until they banged on the door. They did a really good job for us, but for other people higher up the building, they didn’t get such good information about what they should be doing.
She also welcomed the focus on the refurbishment. She had only moved into two weeks before the fire, so had little experience of the building before the it was cladded. She is currently back in temporary accommodation and going through the process of trying to find new council accommodation.
I am worried about the rehousing process. I came here today to inform myself about the lines of inquiry. We are just going to have keep watching the process to see what it delivers.
Mansfield adds: “[Moore-Bick] is taking loads of decisions without a panel. I’m sure it’s all been decided behind closed doors. There are grave concerns. It’s a matter of disrespect to the survivors [not to stay and answer questions].”
Some more details on the attempt by Michael Mansfield QC to ask a question of Sir Martin Moore-Bick after the latter’s opening statement. Mansfield said his refusal to answer questions was “disrespectful to survivors”. He said:
I was making a request on behalf of survivors for another preliminary meeting when they would be there as key participants, as they are all going to be core participants, with designated lawyers to sort out reservations and concerns that they have had from the beginning about this whole process.
One of them can be encapsulated in the absence of any mention of the establishment of a panel or any panel to sit with him to take decisions, there are other issues, but that’s a big one. Assessors are quite separate.
Downing Street says the prime minister, Theresa May, is confident the inquiry will discover what happened and learn any relevant lessons for the future. May’s spokesman said:
The prime minister has said we are determined there will be justice for the victims of this appalling tragedy and for their families. As the inquiry starts today, we’re confident it will get to the truth of what happened and learn the lessons to stop a similar catastrophe from happening in the future.
May is also due to release a formal written statement to Parliament today confirming the terms of reference for the inquiry.
Grenfell Tower public inquiry opens
The chair of the public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower tragedy, Sir Martin Moore-Bick, has opened proceedings with a statement delivered in central London, which can be read in full here.
- The inquiry will have two phases that will run simultaneously. Phase one will look at how the fire it started and spread. It will also cover the responses of the emergency services and the evacuation of residents. Phase two will look at the design and refurbishment of the building and relevant decision-making processes. It will also include the efforts to provide food and shelter to survivors.
- Moore-Bick and those in attendance observed a minute’s silence for those who died in the fire and the retired judge repeated the police’s belief that the final death toll will eventually be confirmed as about 80 people. But some in attendance were disappointed at his refusal to take questions, heckling him as he left.
- While the event itself was well-attended, a screening of it held near the tower was less so.
- Moore-Bick published a list of issues the inquiry will look at, which he said would change as evidence was presented.
- There have been around 300 applications for core participant status in the inquiry. Some have already been granted.
- Moore-Bick was keen to stress that the inquiry’s hearings will usually be held in public and sought the legitimacy that such transparency would offer his investigation.
- He also said that, while the law bars him from deciding on criminal or civil liability, it does not stop him saying where he thinks the evidence suggests they lie.
- Survivors will not be asked to serve on the panel in order to ensure independence, he said.
As promised, some more on what happened at the closing of the statement from Owen Bowcott, who is at the event. He writes:
Sir Martin Moore-Bick had finished delivering his statement. As he got up to leave, Michael Mansfield QC stood up to ask whether he might make a “request” on behalf of the survivors.
The retired judge, however, left the room without answering, prompting disappointed calls from the audience of “hello” and “rubbish”.
Only about 30 local residents have come to the Methodist church to see the live screening of the inquiry’s opening, along with two local Labour councillors who represent the area and a large quantity of media.
Several are wearing t-shirts decorated with the Grenfell heart logo and badges showing solidarity with the victims. Marcia Haynes arrived at the inquiry wearing a black dress decorated with a huge image of the burning tower, beneath the word ‘murderers’.
With that, Sir Martin ends his inquiry opening statement. As planned, he did not take questions. As he left the room, there were some cries of ‘hello’ from attendees. I’ll bring you some more details on what, exactly, was going on there as soon as possible.
Core participants who want to ensure witnesses face specific questions must give at least five days notice to the inquiry.
Three months have passed since the fire on 14 June and it may seem that not much has been achieved but that is not true, Moore-Bick asserted. The process of gathering evidence has “already begun in earnest”.
The first evidence-taking sessions, it is hoped, will be before the end of the year. An interim report will be produced, it is still intended, by Easter 2018.
Elizabeth Campbell, the new leader of the council for the London borough in which Grenfell Tower is situated, Kensington and Chelsea, is among the attendees at the opening of the public inquiry.
She is joined by Met police commander, Stuart Cundy.
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Moore-Bick makes clear he has the power to require people to give evidence and present documents - and will use it.
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There have been around 300 applications for core participant status in the inquiry. Some have already been granted.
Moore-Bick has defended his choice of venue for today’s launch, saying he needed somewhere that would accommodate enough people.
There has been criticism from the MP for Kensington, where the fire happened, Labour’s Emma Dent Coad. She said:
The choice of venue could hardly be less appropriate. We are sitting in a ballroom dripping with opulence and crystal chandeliers, in the middle of London far from the scene of the fire. The room is not accessible. And the judge is praising survivors’ ‘fortitude and resilience’ to a room full of people whose lives have been destroyed. This is just consolidating the feeling of dislocation between the inquiry and survivors sitting here, many of whom feel utterly abandoned in their hotels.
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Moore-Bick says he will publish a list of issues that the inquiry is looking at, though it will not be exhaustive and will change as evidence presents itself. It should be seen as an indication of current thinking, he says.
He makes clear that he will be looking at the processes around decisions taken in relation to the tower over the years.
The inquiry’s chair says it will have two phases.
Phase one: the fire itself, how it started and spread and the chain of events that unfolded before it was finally extinguished. That will also cover the responses of the emergency services and how the evacuation of residents was carried out.
People will be called to give evidence on these points and former residents should be asked to give evidence only once, in order to protect them. That means they will give evidence about both phases in one go. He says he is aware of the stresses on survivors and does not want the inquiry to add further hurt. He is open to suggestions on how to obtain evidence in a sensitive way.
Phase two: how the building came to be so seriously exposed to the risk of a fire. That will cover its design and subsequent refurbishment. It will ask how and why that work was done and whether or not it complied with fire safety regulations. Sir Martin will also look at the efforts to provide food and shelter to survivors in the aftermath of the fire.
The second phase, he says, will take longer because of the amount of documentation involved - some of which he has already asked for. He says each phase should run at the same time.
Moore-Bick is discussing administrative details of the inquiry - such as where it will be held. He says members of the public can attend and hearings will be livestreamed.
The inquiry chair says the recent months have turned the world upside down for the people of North Kensington. For that reason, he says the inquiry must consider all of the evidence.
He points out that the law bars him from deciding on criminal or civil liability, but does not stop him saying such - and he will not hide from doing so where the evidence indicates it.
Moore-Bick says the terms of reference of the inquiry had been drawn up in a broad way so that he can interpret them.
He says it is “important to understand that the inquiry process is not adversarial”. He is not there to decide who has the best case and it should be a cooperative process.
The retired judge adds that the solicitors involved are not there to push a particular line or participant. The inquiry will be pubic, he says, giving it transparency.
And he will not be “deflected from pursuing lines of investigation which may be of value”. The inquiry is “simply to get at truth”, he says.
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Moore-Bick says he will not be deflected from following relevant lines of inquiry.
And he introduces various members of his inquiry team, about whom you can read here.
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Moore-Bick says he cannot satisfy calls for someone from the local community to join his panel of assessors. To appoint someone with direct involvement of the fire, the retired judge said, would risk undermining his impartiality.
Moore-Bick is reprising the terms of reference, which you can read about here. The prime minister accepted those recommendations in full.
Moore-Bick pays tribute to the emergency services and members of the local community , who helped on the night and in the following weeks and months.
He says it is difficult to “find a better example of the fortitude and resilience” of the local community than that of the children who sat their exams in the immediate aftermath of the disaster.
He says the inquiry “cannot undo any of that”, nor the anguish felt by survivors. But he says it can answer how this could have happened “in 21st-century London”.
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The minute’s silence in memory of those who died in Grenfell Tower has ended.
Moore-Bick thanks attendees and expresses the “dismay and sadness we feel at the loss of life, devastation and injury caused by the fire”.
Moore-Bick asks people to stand for a minute’s silence. We will observe that.
Sir Martin-Moore Bick’s statement is beginning. I’ll bring you live updates and it’s available to watch live at the top of this blog.
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Vassiliki Stavrou-Lorraine, a local resident who has lived in the area for 34 years and who lost several friends in the fire, said:
We are holding our breath, waiting to see what happens. I’m not expecting to hear anything in detail because I know it will just be a statement about the way the inquiry will be conducted. We are not expecting answers today.
Nevertheless, she was disappointed that many of the submissions made by residents did not appear to have been included on the terms of reference.
Many residents made a submission about what they thought was relevant for the inquiry, most of them have have not been included. But we are interested in a few points: how the fire started; how the fire services reacted; and the responses of the council and the government. To what depth will those be issues be looked at and who are the experts who are going to look at them? We don’t know yet.
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Former residents, relatives of those who died at Grenfell Tower and lawyers have begun to take their seats in the spacious Edinburgh Suite at the Grand Connaught Rooms in central London in preparation for the inquiry opening.
The Connaught Rooms are a vast complex on the edge of Covent Garden that are rented out for functions and parties. The inquiry has an overflow room where the event is also being screened.
Another suite in the complex, which backs onto the Freemason’s Hall, is being used today for a rebranding launch for the De Vere hotel group.
Outside the Connaught Rooms, Justice for Grenfell protesters have staged a demonstration with placards and banners. Sarah Cox, one of the protesters, said:
We are partly here to make sure people don’t forget. Only a tiny handful of residents have been rehoused.
There’s money that has been given hasn’t reached the people who need it. There’s a lot of mistrust of the judge and panel.
We are here to make sure people don’t get away with any cover-up. If necessary, there may need to be an independent people’s inquiry.
Another Justice for Grenfell supporter, Caul Grant, said:
We do not want another Hillsborough. We want an exposition of the truth and on that truth we want justice.
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The atmosphere in the hall as the first residents arrive is very subdued. A few people have greeted each other with hugs. Most are sitting in silence, waiting for screening to begin.
Mark Long, minister at the church where the statement is being screened, said he was happy the building was being used “to help ensure transparency” in the inquiry process and to allow the community to “show solidarity and support each other”. Three months after the disaster he said people here are “exhausted and frustrated.”
He added: “The atmosphere is calmer, but people here are no less angry. There is still widespread distress in the community.” In particular, residents found the continued presence of the uncovered building “a very distressing, emotionally difficult and damaging experience”, he said. “It is still a profoundly shocking sight. For newcomers to the area - it is raw and horrific thing to see. For local people it is harder still - it is their memories of seeing people at the windows on the night, and memories of the flats they used visit and their friends.”
We have been attempting to memorialise all of the victims named so far. You can read that piece here:
Labour has warned the government the inquiry should not be reason to delay improvement measures to tower blocks.
In a letter to communities secretary Sajid Javid, the shadow housing minister John Healey said:
Thirteen weeks after the terrible fire at Grenfell Tower, it is astonishing that ministers still cannot tell tenants and the public how many of the country’s 4,000 high-rise tower blocks are not safe, that promises of financial support for urgent work have not been honoured, and that the support for Grenfell survivors is still hopelessly inadequate.
Emma Dent Coad, the Labour MP for Kensington, said that, while she believes there will be a “thorough technical review” of what has happened, there are fears wider questions will remain unanswered. She told BBC Breakfast:
I do feel there’s a gap between the terms of the inquiry and the criminal investigation and that’s not going to be dealt with. And those are a lot of the questions that people want to hear.
Are we going to find out who is accountable? They’ll be picking through the 60 different sub contractors who worked on the tower, and all of those other issues, all the technical aspects of what was done and who chose what and whether or not the installation was done correctly and who gave those instructions.
Survivors and victims’ families will be able to watch the statement live on a screen in Notting Hill Methodist church. My colleague, Amelia Gentleman, will be there and will be providing updates.
She sends this:
Because capacity at the Grand Connaught Rooms is limited, the Notting Hill Methodist church, close to the tower, has also been opened to allow survivors of the tragedy, local residents and affected families to watch the opening statement.
This is the church that opened its doors to survivors on the night of the fire, as the seriousness of the blaze became apparent. Volunteers were here for weeks receiving and then sorting through thousands of donations; the building has become one of several focal points for the community in the months since.
There are 250 seats in the church hall; two screens at the side of an ornate wooden organ will be screening the opening statement so that survivors can watch without having to travel into central London.
By 9.45am a few people were beginning to arrive, in silence, to take seats in the hall. Everyone who walks in to the hall passes a vast window at the back of the room, looking straight out on to the ruins of Grenfell Tower.
Sir Martin will give his address, expected to be about 45 minutes long, at the Grand Connaught Rooms, in central London. The former Court of Appeal judge will not take questions afterwards.
My colleague, Owen Bowcott, will be there. He’s provided this helpful update on the proceedings:
Timetable of inquiry
While the announcement will be made at the Connaught Rooms, in Covent Garden, that will not necessarily be the location for further hearings once the inquiry begins taking evidence.
Nor has any firm date for the public sessions yet been fixed. They are unlikely to start before October at the earliest. An interim report was initially anticipated before the end of the year but expectations of that have slipped.
Transcripts and the evidence considered will be published each day on the inquiry’s website unless an order is made under section 19 of the Inquiries Act 2005 to restrict material. The hearings will also be live-streamed online.
There are disputes over the composition of the advisory panel to the inquiry and its relationship to the Moore-Bick, who is a retired court of appeal judge. BMELawyers4Grenfell are seeking permission for a judicial review of the process of appointing the panel to ensure it reflects the diverse backgrounds of the victims and survivors. No date for that challenge has been fixed.
The inquiry is still negotiating a protocol with the police to ensure that material obtained by detectives in the course of their criminal investigation and the inquiry itself can be shared.
Lawyers involved
Sir Martin Moore-Bick, the chair of the inquiry, retired at the age of 70 from the court of appeal in December last year. His legal expertise is focused on contract law, an area that may may prove relevant when examining construction procedures and liabilities.
Richard Millett QC, who is also an expert in commercial law and business disputes, is the main counsel to the inquiry. He also sits as a deputy high court judge.
Bernard Richmond QC, a criminal defence specialist, is also counsel to the inquiry. He trains barristers on how to handle vulnerable witnesses and sits as an assistant coroner.
Kate Grange QC, who is also counsel to the inquiry, is an expert in commercial, construction, public and inquiry law.
Caroline Featherstone is solicitor to the inquiry. She qualified as a registered nurse, was employed in the NHS and then switched to a legal career. She has worked for the Government Legal Department.
Mark Fisher is secretary to the inquiry. He formerly worked in the cabinet office and the department of work and pensions.
Terms of reference
The inquiry’s terms of reference agreed between Sir Martin and the prime minister are set out on the inquiry website. Calls for it to be extended to examine broader questions of social and council housing continue.
The inquiry’s main purpose include examining the immediate causes of the fire, the design and construction of the building, the adequacy of fire and building regulations and whether regulations were complied with.
It will also look into the way any complaints about the risk of fire were handled, the response of the London Fire Brigade and the response of central and local government in the days immediate following the inferno.
Good morning. Here, we’ll be covering the opening of the public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower disaster, in which police believe about 80 people died in June.
The inquiry’s chair, Sir Martin Moore-Bick, is expected to deliver his opening statement at about 10.30am and a silent march is due to take place in Kensington from 6.30pm.
There will be more updates as they come but, in the meantime, you can read Amelia Gentleman’s piece on the survivors who are still living in hotels three months after the tragedy. That’s despite Theresa May’s promise that everyone affected would be rehoused within three weeks.
As one former Grenfell resident told the Guardian:
For three months, people here have been discussing the same subject, every day, every night: housing. It’s making people more and more ill.
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