Grenfell inquiry blames governments, companies and fire service

Grenfell's 'path to disaster' that led to 72 deaths

The Grenfell Tower fire that killed 72 people in 2017 was the result of a chain of failures by governments, "dishonest" companies and a lack of strategy by the fire service, the final report of the six-year public inquiry has concluded.

The damning report sets out a "path to disaster" at Grenfell stretching back to the early 1990s over how fire safety in high-rise buildings has been managed and regulated.

The coalition and Conservative governments “ignored, delayed or disregarded” concerns about the safety of industry practices, the inquiry said.

The report highlighted the "systematic dishonesty" of manufacturers as a reason for the tower block being clad in combustible materials.

One manufacturer was also found to have “deliberately concealed” the fire risks its cladding posed.

Among the recommendations laid out in the 1,700-page report are the introduction of a single construction regulator, a College of Fire and Rescue to improve the training of firefighters and changes to the way materials are tested for fire safety.

The report's publication comes more than seven years after the fire started in a fridge on the fourth floor of the west London tower block, spreading through the cladding before racing up the sides of the building.

Many residents were trapped on higher floors as it spread, and the inquiry found all the victims were dead or unconscious by the time the flames reached them due to "inhalation of asphyxiant gases", primarily carbon monoxide.

The cladding was made of highly flammable polyethylene which was added to the sides of the 1970s-built Grenfell Tower in a disastrous refurbishment in 2016.

The inquiry found fault and incompetence among almost every company involved in the refurbishment.

Among the key findings of the report were:

• "Systematic dishonesty" by the manufacturers of cladding and insulation
• US firm Arconic, manufacturer of the Reynobond 55 cladding which experts at the inquiry said was "by far the largest contributor" to the fire, deliberately concealed the true extent of the danger of using its product
• Manufacturers made "false and misleading claims" over the safety and suitability of insulation to the company which installed it on Grenfell
• Failures in London Fire Brigade's training and a lack of a strategy to evacuate the building
• Successive governments missed opportunities to act
• The local council and the Tenant Management Organisation had a "persistent indifference to fire safety, particularly the safety of vulnerable people"
• How building safety is managed in England and Wales is “seriously defective”

Speaking after the report was published, the inquiry chair Sir Martin Moore-Bick said not all of the named organisations and companies "bear the same degree of responsibility for the disaster".

But he said the report showed they all "contributed in one way or another" to the tragedy, attributing most of the failings to "incompetence" but some to "dishonesty and greed".

In a statement to Parliament on Wednesday, Sir Keir Starmer apologised on behalf of the British state, saying those affected had been "let down very badly before, during and in the aftermath of the tragedy".

Police and prosecutors have said that investigators will need until the end of 2025 to complete their inquiry, with final decisions on potential criminal charges by the end of 2026.