Campaign news

Grenfell: We Need Full Enquiry

18th August 2017

Grenfell: We Need Full Enquiry

Matt Wrack, General Secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, said earlier this week, “The prime minister was subject to severe criticism in the days after the fire. Since then, we have seen the start of a campaign to protect the government and place the blame anywhere else, anywhere but Whitehall,”

Wrack retorted, “How is it remotely possible to seriously examine the causes, spread and results of the fire without examining ‘social, economic and political’ matters?...He called the decision a “mighty kick of some really fundamental issues into some very long grass”... There is clearly no intent from government for any wider inquiry or serious debate.”

Matt went on, “It is about the overarching regime, the political climate under which they operate. People across the world are asking how, in the UK, it is possible to apply flammable systems of cladding to residential tower blocks.

“The risk in Moore-Bick’s terms of reference is that the inquiry is able to avoid probing deeper to examine the regime which allowed these deaths to happen, conveniently taking the spotlight off government ministers and any policies that were or weren’t in place that may have had an impact.”

“These are all essential parts of the jigsaw. But they miss crucial questions. Firefighters attending the incident were initially struck by the fact that a fire of that nature was impossible. If the agency responsible believes a fire on this scale to be so impossible that it has made no plans to react on such a scale, Moore-Bick is missing a blatantly obvious question: how could this even happen?”

Sir Martin Moore-Bick seems determined to frame the enquiry into the disaster as narrowly as possible

Immediately after the horrific Grenfell Tower fire Matt Wrack, commented, “Firefighters and other emergency services have been working through the night to secure the building and to save as many lives as possible. They will be doing a particularly difficult job witnessing brutal and tragic scenes with the professionalism we have come to expect from them. ..A full investigation will need to be undertaken at the first possible opportunity to establish exactly what happened and what can be done to prevent such an incident happening again.”

There is a danger that this won’t happen. Don’t let them get away with it.

Matt Wrack, as well as being General Secretary of the FBU, is Chair of the LRC.

Background

By Ian Hodson It’s great news that a mainstream political party has recognised the importance of taking positive action to raise pay. Since 2008, politicians from all parties along with many in the media, have pushed the narrative that society will somehow improve by imposing austerity and blaming minority groups for the state of the country’s finances. Sadly, many have fallen for this deception and the ‘look over there’ politics that has rose to prominence since the Conservatives returned to power in 2010. [continue...]

Folkestone United – coming together to support migrants Bridget Chapman, Folkestone United, reports [continue...]

No Witch-Hunts In The GMB, Reinstate Keith Henderson (The Online Petition) Keith Henderson Essex LRC member and former Regional Organiser of the GMB Union was dismissed from the GMB last December, Keith has always believed that the real reason for his dismissal was because of his socialist beliefs and the manifestation of his beliefs. [continue...]

Please see our Labour Briefing Website here: LabourBriefing.org [continue...]

The LRC is supporting a broad alliance of campaign groups and trade unions against the proposals in the Welfare Reform Bill (currently before Parliament) and putting forward our alternative based on social justice and welfare for all. [continue...]

Across the country working people are losing their jobs and their homes. Meanwhile the bankers who plunged us into this crisis have been bailed out with billions of pounds of our money. It’s time to fight back. Their Crisis Not Ours! is the LRC’s campaign to bring together workers, pensioners, the unemployed, students, those facing repossession and all those suffering because of an economic crisis that has been imposed on us. The campaign is supporting the demands of the People’s Charter. [continue...]

Rail bosses are using the recession as an excuse to attack jobs and conditions and cut back on services and essential rail works, and hike rail fares - as LEAP research suggested they would. Thousands of jobs are being threatened or have been lost. At the same time rail fat cats are raking in big profits and bonuses on the back of the most expensive fares in Europe. Make no mistake: as the recession worsens so will the attack on rail workers and rail services. [continue...]

The campaign calling on the Government to abandon its plans for privatisation of Royal Mail. The Government has introduced the Postal Services Bill to part-privatise the Royal Mail. With our affiliate union CWU we are fighting to Keep the Post Public! [continue...]

The campaign to demand the Government funds improvements to all existing council housing, and to start building first class council homes to address housing need. For more information see Defend Council Housing website. [continue...]