Firms condemned in Grenfell report to be excluded from public contracts, Starmer says

Companies condemned in the Grenfell Tower inquiry will be barred from being awarded public sector contracts, the Prime Minister has promised.

In an address to Parliament on Wednesday (4 September), Kier Starmer also told MPs that the Government would support any legal moves against those involved.

He said: "I can tell the House today that this government will write to all companies found by the inquiry to be part of these horrific failings as the first step to stopping them being awarded government contracts."

Starmer's comment came in response to the final report – conducted by Sir Martin Moore-Bick – on the 2017 fire, which condemned failures by the government, building companies, contractors, fire safety experts and council staff.

The report concluded that the fire was "the culmination of decades of failure by central government and other bodies in positions of responsibility in the construction industry to look carefully into the danger of incorporating combustible materials into the external walls of high-rise residential buildings and to act on the information available to them."

Starmer said he was "deeply sorry" in response to the report.

He said: "I want to say very clearly on behalf of the country. You've been let down so badly - before, during and in the aftermath of this tragedy.

"And while Sir Martin sets out a catalogue of appalling industry failures for which there must now be full accountability, he also finds and I quote 'decades of failure by central government'.

Starmer added: "He concludes that in the years between the fire at Knowsley Heights in 1991 and the fire at Grenfell Tower in 2017, there were many opportunities for the Government to identify the risks posed by the use of combustible cladding panels and insulation."

"And he concludes and I quote 'by 2016 the department was well aware of those risks, but failed to act on what they knew'."

The Prime Minister said the Government will respond to the inquiry's recommendations in full within six months.

Adam Carey