Grenfell families’ lawyer: All these inquiries are blighted by lies

Totalling more than 1,500 pages, the Grenfell Tower Inquiry report by Sir Martin Moore-Bick, which will be published at 11am on Wednesday, is set to be nothing if not comprehensive.
After the disclosure of 320,000 documents and more than 300 hearings across two phases, the overview and recommendations for the second and final report will make up 50 pages alone.
Survivors of the fire and those who appeared at the inquiry described the report by its chairman as a “watershed moment”.
They are hoping to see it address accountability for the “avoidable” tragedy, the “predatory practices” of corporations and the need for greater powers for tenant associations.
The report will make a list of recommendations to the government, to prevent a future disaster such as the one on June 14, 2017 which led to the deaths of 72 people in west London.
Michael Mansfield KC, who represented families affected by the fire during the inquiry, urged the Labour government to seize the initiative and “implement and enforce” the recommendations.
The former Conservative government failed to implement all of the first Grenfell report’s recommendations, including ensuring building owners and managers prepared evacuation plans for disabled tenants.
Mansfield said: “This is an extremely big moment because you’ve got a new government, with a very commanding majority, in a position to be an effective government if they want to be.
“This is a moment, before the party conferences, where they’ve really got to knuckle down and realise these matters cannot be put off any longer.”
Mansfield said that, similar to evidence heard at the Post Office and Covid-19 inquiries, the Grenfell report had the chance to highlight a “systematic failure of governance”. He wants to see a “duty of candour” law introduced, requiring public bodies to tell the truth as well as openly and fully assist inquiries and court proceedings after a major incident.
Sir Keir Starmer included the law — also known as the Hillsborough Law, as it was created after the inquiry report into the deaths of 97 Liverpool fans in Sheffield in 1989 — in the King’s Speech.
Mansfield said: “The fact is that all these inquiries have highlighted … a stream of dishonesty, deceit or telling lies, or not being honest, which runs through all of them.”
Duty of candour should apply to people “across the board”, Mansfield argued, because a number of inquiries had shown how “victims and the public have been misled”. He added: “I’m hoping that this inquiry will underline the same point. So in the end, if people are found to violate it, they should be accountable.”
The inquiry cannot pinpoint civil or criminal liability, but will make findings about the events leading up to the devastating fire, giving families the hope of further accountability.
Combustible cladding, installed as part of a refurbishment, was deemed as the principal reason the fire spread so quickly around Grenfell Tower in the inquiry’s first report.
The second report will look at how and why the block came to be in that condition.
The Metropolitian Police is investigating 19 companies or organisations, along with 58 individuals, over the disaster.
Scotland Yard has taken approximately 11,400 statements in relation to the case. The force said earlier this year that charges would not be announced until late 2026 at the earliest.
Another person involved in the inquiry, who did not want to be named, said they hoped it would take aim at the “predatory practices of corporate entities”.
Mansfield said: “At the end of the day — in Grenfell in particular — it was profit before people.”
Of the report, he added: “As a result of identifying and describing in its narrative the institutions and people responsible for the failures, those are then investigated by the police.”
Sandra Ruiz, whose 12-year-old niece Jessica Urbano Ramirez was killed in the fire, said “there is no justice without people going behind bars”.
“Our lives were shattered on that night, people need to be held accountable. They know what part they played. The inquiry knows what part they played. And the police know what part they played. Now they [police] just need to take some action about it.
“People who have made decisions putting profit above people’s safety need to be behind bars.”
Mansfield also wanted the report to ensure, in future, that the voice of tenants “is not only heard but given effect to”.
That is also something hoped for by Shah Ahmed, one of those who survived the blaze after living in Grenfell Tower for more than 25 years.
Ahmed, who lived on the 18th floor, was founder and chairman of Grenfell Tower Leaseholders Association and had previously warned of the possibility of a fire.
He said that in future he wanted residents to be “properly consulted and be informed” about works, particularly major projects, being undertaken on their buildings.
He wants recommendations to enhance legal powers for Tenants and Residents Associations and greater education and empowerment of leaseholders in social housing.
Ahmed said: “Those actually living in social housing are the real experts. I want the inquiry to recognise that when making recommendations. Fire doesn’t know whether a building is social housing or not. Grenfell did happen in social housing, but work to improve the experience of social housing residents is lagging behind.”
A government spokesman said: “The government is committed to restoring trust in public life, including ensuring the highest standards of integrity and honesty.
“The government is bringing forward a ‘Hillsborough law’ that will place a legal duty of candour on public servants and authorities. It will act as a catalyst for change by reducing the culture of defensiveness, improving accountability for the delivery of public services and ensuring the lack of candour uncovered by recent reports cannot happen again.”