The union for firefighters and control staff has raised questions after the release of the schedule for next week’s Grenfell Tower Inquiry hearings revealed that national politicians would receive just five days of questioning in total.
The schedule was released today at around midday.
The union says that the time given to evidence from witnesses such as civil servants, firefighters and control staff relative to national politicians shows that the inquiry is – unwittingly or not – helping to protect politicians, whom it believes have responsibility for the disaster.
The inquiry spent weeks questioning individual firefighters and control staff, and has also given extensive time over for questioning other figures such as civil servants, with civil servant Brian Martin recently subjected to questioning for nearly eight days.
Matt Wrack, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, said:
“The lack of focus on ministers raises serious questions about the inquiry’s commitment to justice for the victims of Grenfell, and is what the FBU has feared all along.
“Individual firefighters and control staff did not put cladding on Grenfell Tower: politicians created the regulatory system that allowed it. Yet it is firefighters and control staff who have been dragged before the inquiry for weeks of evidence, with politicians getting only a single week altogether.
“FBU members were asked to deal with a situation that no one had prepared for, that no one expected and that they did not create. They are not to blame for this disaster. Politicians should be held to account for their actions which could have prevented this fire.”
Wrack also highlighted that ministers have so far been questioned without reference to hand-written notes that would help reveal their views on key documents, because they appear to have gone missing.
He said:
“We cannot continue with a situation where the inquiry is seeing an incomplete picture, including with regards to vital records that would reveal politicians’ motivations and decisions. The inquiry must be far more active in seeking these documents and politicians must do everything they can to provide them.”
