This live blog is now closing. Here is a summary of the evening’s events:
The communities and local government secretary, Sajid Javid, revealed that the number of blocks found to have been clad in combustible material has risen from seven to 11. In a letter to MPs, he said the disaster had changed his understanding of what it is to be a cabinet minister.
Nine tower blocks in Salford were found to be using similar cladding to that on Grenfell Tower. Samples have been sent off for checks to determine whether or not it is combustible.
No publicly-owned high rise blocks in Scotland use the aluminium composite cladding implicated in the Grenfell Tower disaster. The Scottish confirmed said it had confirmed as much with the country’s 32 councils.
In his letter to MPs confirming the new total of buildings with combustible cladding, Sajid Javid said Camden, Manchester and Plymouth were three areas where buildings had failed the test but stressed he could not reveal more because local residents in the others have not yet been informed, despite landlords being alerted to results. He wrote:
I also want to reassure colleagues that you will be made aware if any sites are in your constituency by the local authority in the first instance - my department stands ready to assist colleagues if further information is required.
To ensure that local authorities and housing associations know how to respond where tests do show action is needed, my department has today written to every one of them to ensure they know what immediate steps they should take if the testing shows cladding material is unlikely to be compliant with current building regulations, and I attach a copy of this for your information.
We should be clear that landlords have a legal obligation to provide safe buildings. Where they cannot do that, we expect alternative accommodation to be provided. My department stands ready to work with local authorities to ensure they can meet their obligations to provide safety for their tenants. We cannot and will not ask people to live in unsafe homes.
He added that the disaster had “shaken” his understanding of his job in the cabinet.
As a minister, I have always been prepared to make tough decisions. I understood the pressures that come with public life but this disaster has shaken my comprehension of what it means to be in office. I have met some of the victims of Grenfell, I have witnessed for myself the grief and anger of those who have lost so much - more than just their possessions but also their loved ones, their security and their memories.
This government will do everything possible not just to replace houses and provide immediate relief, but to seek justice for those people who have been failed. This tragedy should weigh on the consciousness of every person tasked with making a decision so this can never happen again.
Javid also urged landlords to send samples to the government’s testing facility, which can handle around 100 per day, with extra capacity available if necessary, as a “matter of urgency”.
Nick Paget-Brown, the Conservative leader of Kensington and Chelsea council, has admitted the body failed in its response to the Grenfell Tower disaster. He faced calls to resign earlier today, though the prime minister declined to add her voice to them. Paget-Brown apologised, saying:
Council workers have been on duty around the clock since 1.30am on the day of the fire, helping local residents and the families of the victims. I have nothing but praise for their truly heroic efforts
However, although individual council officers have worked so hard and delivered so much, it is clear that there has been a failing in our collective response. We could have done a better job at co-ordinating what happened on the ground and we weren’t able to re-home people as fast as we would have liked. We are truly sorry for that.
This is a tragedy of enormous proportions, and it has overwhelmed our normal capacity.
The statement said the council had found temporary accommodation for 250 households, adding that no one had been housed outside of London.
Work is under way to assess the housing needs of all Grenfell Tower and Grenfell Walk families to identify suitable accommodation. All the identified properties are in the borough of Kensington and Chelsea, or a neighbouring borough, and none will be in towers.
A centre specifically for the friends and families of victims and those still missing had been set up in addition to the community assistance centre at the Westway, Paget-Brown said, adding that every household affected had been allocated a social worker to act as their main point of contact, if they wanted one.
People rightly have many questions about this tragedy, and they will be answered. Lessons will be learned from the Grenfell Tower fire and the government has launched a full public inquiry. We will cooperate in full with this and all other investigations.
Number of tower blocks on which combustible cladding found rises to 11
The number of high-rise blocks of flats found to have combustible cladding similar to that used on Grenfell Tower has risen to 11, across eight local authority areas in England, the communities and local government secretary, Sajid Javid, has said in a letter to MPs.
The Conservative party has said it did not break the law by contracting a company to call voters during the general election campaign after Channel 4 News obtained secret footage of the call centre.
According to the programme, the Tories may have broken data protection and election laws by using Blue Telecoms, a firm in Neath, South Wales, to directly contact voters in marginal seats.
The Conservatives said the company was hired to carry out legal market research and direct marketing.
Channel 4 News claimed workers may have been carrying out paid canvassing, which is banned under electoral law, because they pushed what appeared to be key Tory messages to undecided voters. One call script quoted by the programme said:
It was reported in the Daily Mirror in September last year that Jeremy Corbyn is not concerned about the numbers of people coming to live in the UK and it was reported on Sky News this year that Theresa May has restated her pledge to reduce net migration.
Just thinking about these reports in the media and the reports that you live in a marginal constituency that may determine who is prime minister... Does that make you more likely to back Theresa May or more likely to vote for Jeremy Corbyn?
A Conservative spokesman said:
Political parties of all colours pay for market research and direct marketing calls. All the scripts supplied by the party for these calls are compliant with data protection and information law.
Following the news that nine tower blocks in Salford have similar cladding to that used on Grenfell Tower, residents in one of the buildings have told the Guardian that fire officers had been carrying out checks on each of its 22 floors earlier on Thursday. Many residents had also received a card from Pendleton Together marked “Urgent - please could you get in touch with us as soon as possible,” which said it referred to a fire survey.
Salford tower block residents got this leaflet today. Some told me fire officers have been carrying out checks today on all 22 floors. pic.twitter.com/CuZJBw4PGO
Dozens of people in Thorn Court have signed a petition demanding an urgent meeting with the council’s housing provider over what it described as a lack of sprinklers and fire alarms in the block, which was refurbished only last year. Residents also ask in the petition: “Why have we never had a fire alarm test in 26 years? I have never heard one. Why haven’t we had an evacuation test?”.
Dozens of residents here have signed petition outlining concerns about fire safety - and this was before the cladding news today pic.twitter.com/XP3hcc7Ycd
Michael Hinton said he felt especially vulnerable, being disabled and living on the 20th floor.
I’m horrified. It’s a hell of a situation, I’ve been here 14 years and I’ve been happy here but this business in London has frightened the life out of everybody. There’s three disabled people on this floor - I’m worried sick in our situation.
Angela Morgan, who also lives on the 20th floor, said the news about the cladding added to her concerns about the building’s fire safety.
There’s no sprinklers, no fire alarms, the front doors are automatic – imagine if there was a fire.
Morgan said she had lived happily in the building, which has envious views across Manchester, for seven years but had considered moving to a house since the Grenfell tower disaster. “I feel like crying - if anything happened you don’t stand a chance,” she said.
Victims of the Grenfell Tower fire disaster have had their outstanding energy bills written off by by power companies, the government says.
Those who have been resettled will not be put on more expensive tariffs, while direct debit payments will be put on hold and people will not be charged for energy “for the period after the fire”. The business and energy secretary, Greg Clark, said:
Businesses should play an active role in society and I am pleased that all the energy companies supplying Grenfell Tower have come together and agreed to a set of principles in support of families who have already lost so much.
Thames Water has confirmed that accounts held by Grenfell Tower residents have been frozen, with outstanding debts written off and refunds for charges paid in advance.
Telecoms companies have also provided free chargers, mobile phones, and pre-loaded SIM cards for victims and are allowing those affected to use in-store web browsing and charging facilities in the immediate area.
EU leaders have taken a “historic” step towards closer defence integration, the European Council president, Donald Tusk, has announced.
All members of the 28-nation bloc will be invited to join a permanent defence structure. The step has become possible only because of the expected withdrawal form the EU of the UK, which has long opposed such co-operation.
The European Commission’s president, Jean-Claude Juncker, said it had been a “sleeping princess” for decades, adding: “The princess is now awakening.” Tusk added:
Leaders agreed on the need to set up permanent EU co-operation on defence. It is a historic step because such co-operation will allow the EU to move towards deeper integration in defence.
Our aim is for it to be ambitious and inclusive and every EU country is invited to join.
Within three months, member states will agree a common list of criteria and commitments together with concrete capability projects an order to take this co-operation off the ground.
European Union leaders have threatened to pass legislation to force internet companies to take down extremist and terrorist material if they fail to act voluntarily.
Theresa May and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, agreed in Paris last week to press social media and tech firms to move forward with the establishment of an industry-led forum to develop tools to automatically identify and remove unacceptable material, with the threat that regulatory or legislative action could follow if they fail to do so.
Announcing the EU’s position in a Brussels press conference, the European Council’s president, Donald Tusk, said:
Terrorism is still a major threat. We are fully determined to protect our people. To that end, the European Council agreed to deepen our efforts against foreign terrorist fighters.
We are calling on social media companies to do whatever is necessary to prevent the spread of terrorist material on the internet. In practice, this means developing new tools to detect and remove such material automatically. If need be, we are ready to also adopt relevant legislation.
The Scottish government has said no publicly-owned high rise blocks in Scotland use the aluminium composite cladding implicated in the Grenfell tower disaster, after checks were carried out by all of the country’s 32 councils.
Ministers have set up a new working group chaired by Angela Constance, the Scottish communities secretary, to review building and fire regulations with the fire brigade, building standards and housing officials.
Following Theresa May’s disclosure that seven tower blocks in England had so far been found with the same cladding, Constance said:
Scottish building regulations state that cladding on high rise domestic buildings built since 2005, and cladding added to existing high rise domestic buildings since 2005, should be made of non-combustible materials or a cladding system that has met stringent fire tests.
External cladding on high rise domestic buildings built before 2005 has to meet a Class 0 classification which was the most demanding anti-flame spread classification at that time.
We have confirmation from all local authorities that aluminium composite material has not been used in the cladding of their high rise domestic buildings. We are working intensively with local authorities to complete the picture for all high rise domestic buildings, including those that are privately owned, as quickly as possible.
Sprinkler systems and other fire suppression measures are to be fitted to residential tower blocks in Birmingham, the city’s council says.
Its leader, John Clancy, said the 213 blocks of flats the council owns would be looked at “as a matter of urgency ... to assess what work needs to be undertaken to reassure tenants that their homes are safe”. Clancy said he was prepared to find up to an estimated £31m to retrospectively put in place safety measures.
He has written to a host of other major councils to ask for their support in his campaign to convince central government to help pay for fire suppression measures in every council tower block in the country.
Cladding similar to Grenfell Tower found on nine more blocks
Josh Halliday
Nine tower blocks in Salford use similar cladding to that on Grenfell Tower, Salford city council has confirmed. The recently-refurbished buildings near the Salford Lad’s Club in Pendleton use aluminium composite material (ACM).
A council spokesman said samples of the cladding had been sent to DCLG to check whether or not they were combustible, but that it had not received the results.
The buildings are owned by the council but managed by Pendleton Together, which said it had commissioned a team of independent safety experts to review the cladding.
Extended patrols of the buildings would be introduced as a “precautionary safety measure” and to provide reassurance to residents, the company said. Pendleton Together said:
We are aware that our residents are asking a number of questions about the cladding used to refurbish the Pendleton blocks. We appreciate that this is obviously a matter of real concern to Pendleton residents and their families.
The cladding used in Pendleton is Aluminium Composite Material (ACM). This was fitted correctly to the manufacturer’s specification and certified by an independent expert.
We can confirm that all fire risk assessments for the Pendleton blocks are up to date and, to reassure our residents on Friday of last week, we announced an independent review. This review will examine the refurbishment work and our ongoing safety practices and will be undertaken by independent safety experts.
The Royal Institute of British Architects (Riba), which represents architects across the UK and Ireland, says it has been raising concerns for years about the new regulatory regime in construction which allows “fire risk self-assessment”.
It also says it was not happy with developments that mean the lead designer is no longer responsible for oversight of specification of materials and products.
In a statement, it said it was concerned about delays to a review of building regulations and the impact of the reform to fire safety rules in 2005; in particular, the introduction of “fire risk self-assessment and the repeal of fire certificate legislation with oversight by the fire authority”.
The “virtual disappearance of the role of clerk of works on site” has also been an issue for the Riba.
The London mayor, Sadiq Khan, has demanded greater transparency from the government over the measures being taken to make tower blocks safe.
From the very first taskforce meeting I attended I said we have got to provide the reassurance that people need because, not unreasonably, if you live in a tower block you are worried, if you have got friends and family who live in a tower block you are worried.
We need to make sure that even if they have got cladding that’s safe, has it been properly installed?
There are also other checks that need to be taking place - are the fire doors closed in those tower blocks, are there fire extinguishers, are there smoke alarms, is there access for fire engines?
My message to the government is be as transparent as you can. You must be transparent but also you must provide the resources to make sure we make those tower blocks as safe as they can be.
Asked if ministers had been as transparent as possible, Khan said they had not.
I’m pleased there’s been an improvement. They have definitely raised their game, but they have got to do even better.
They have got to make sure that on the ground in north Kensington there is swifter information, more information to the residents, outreach work is done to make sure there’s bespoke help given to every single family, every single resident.
Khan was speaking at the unveiling of a memorial to African and Caribbean troops who served in the two world wars. The defence secretary, Michael Fallon, who was also at the event, said the government was doing all it could to reassure tower block residents.
We have set up the inquiry to get to the cause of this. It’s very important we understand the facts. There are a number of theories around about cladding but it’s very important we get to the bottom of what actually caused the fire to spread so quickly and so devastatingly.
We are going to make sure we get those lessons learned as quickly as possible in the investigation.
A London borough has said that it is going to remove cladding from tower blocks after discovering it is similar to the combustible panels being blamed for making the Grenfell Tower fire as deadly as it was. The news emerged after Theresa May used a statement to the Commons to unveil the first results of a nationwide inquiry to find out how many other tower blocks are covered in the same material. Seven tower blocks, in four different council areas, have now been identified as having this flammable cladding. (See 4.49pm.) One is in Tottenham, the local MP David Lammy has revealed. Camden is another borough on the list. Further checks on buildings around the country are still under way. In sometimes difficult exchanges, May also faced criticism from Labour MPs who felt she was not giving an unequivocal guarantee that central government would pay the full cost of any work needed to make buildings safe. May said that, where work was necessary, resources would be made available. But she seemed to leave open the possibility of local authorities having to make a contribution. (See 1.54pm.)
Sajid Javid, the communities secretary, has said that the Grenfell Tower fire should force a rethink in the nation’s approach to social housing. Speaking in the Queen’s speech debate, he said:
I think it’s clear that any changes in the wake of this tragedy shouldn’t just be technical, or to legislation.
What happened at Grenfell Tower also showed us all that we need a change in attitude.
We all need to rethink our approach to social housing, and we need to reflect on the way that successive governments have engaged with and responded to social tenants.
We don’t yet know for sure whether this disaster could have been avoided if the people who called Grenfell Tower their home had been listened to.
But we do know that for far too long, that their voices fell on deaf ears, so if nothing else, let the legacy of Grenfell be that such voices will never, ever be ignored again.
A government-supported initiative to cut red tape considered a push to dismantle EU regulations on the fire safety of cladding and other construction materials in the weeks before the Grenfell Tower fire. As Sandra Laville reports, a document obtained by Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, and seen by the Guardian, singled out EU regulation which covers the safety and efficacy of construction materials as among the first to target for dismantling. Among the products covered in the EU regulation is cladding. The document was produced on 10 May for the Red Tape Initiative, a body supported by the government, to “seize the opportunities” of Brexit to cut red tape. Entitled The EU’s Impact on the UK Housing and Construction Industry, it picks out the Construction Products Regulation (EU 305/2011) as “red tape folly” which is “expensive and burdensome for small businesses”.
The population of the UK has seen its sharpest annual increase in nearly 70 years, official figures have revealed. As the Press Association reports, demographers’ latest calculations show there were an estimated 65,648,000 people living in the country at the end of June last year. Over the 12 months to the middle of 2016, the number of inhabitants went up by 0.8%, or 538,000 - an increase roughly equivalent to the population of Bradford. In numerical terms this is the largest rise since 551,000 in the year to mid-1947, which was caused mainly by a rise in births in the postwar baby boom. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said net international migration continued to be the main driver behind the growth, while there was also a rise in births and fewer deaths.
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