YP Comment: No hiding place in fire inquiry. May acts as blaze death toll rises

GIVEN that Ministers would '“ in normal circumstances '“ have spent the past two days answering emergency questions in Parliament about the Grenfell Tower inferno in London, and the safety flaws that enabled the blaze to spread through the council-owned flats with such ferocity, Theresa May couldn't afford to delay the Queen's Speech any longer.
Theresa May during a visit to the scene of the Grenfell Tower tragedy.Theresa May during a visit to the scene of the Grenfell Tower tragedy.
Theresa May during a visit to the scene of the Grenfell Tower tragedy.

Until the State Opening of Parliament has occurred – it will now take place next Wednesday – Ministers cannot be held to account on the great issues of the day, not least this horrendous national tragedy which has far-reaching consequences for all those who live in high-rise buildings.

Mrs May’s confirmation of a public inquiry – she looked shellshocked after visiting the scene of horror to see the devastation for herself – is a reflection of the scale of disaster’s magnitude – and the growing belief that a complacent attitude towards safety, and the absence of basic precautions like alarms and sprinklers, exacerbated the loss of life.

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This is particularly close to home for Mrs May because her new chief of staff, Gavin Barwell, was the Housing Minister in the last Parliament and clearly has questions of his own to answer about the apparent delays to a review into building regulations which was pre-empted by the deaths of six tenants at Lakanal House in London in 2009.

No politician, or official, should be exempt from scrutiny – even those no longer in public office. Too many lives have been lost, the death toll is rising as bodies are recovered and too many families are still awaiting for any news about loved ones still missing, for there to be any obfuscation or buck-passing. Yet it’s also important that the planned inquiry has the authority to proceed hastily so an interim report can be published at the earliest opportunity. Not only do the Grenfell Tower families have a right to early answers – they were living, paradoxically, in one of the country’s wealthiest boroughs – but so, too, do all those families living in high-rise flats and apartments.

Deal or no deal?

THE GRENFELL Tower disaster masks the invidiousness of Theresa May’s predicament. She initially put the Queen’s Speech on hold, arguing it would be imprudent to finalise its contents before any Parliamentary pact between the Tories and Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party had been signed off.

Yet, as the DUP played hardball and appeared to overplay their negotiating hand, the Prime Minister has been forced to press ahead with the State Opening of Parliament next Wednesday, albeit 48 hours later than scheduled, without an agreement being reached with the DUP.

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These are high stakes, and while it is inconceivable that the DUP would not support the Government, this brinkmanship – and the Treasury’s desire not to write a blank cheque – is a foretaste of the future after the snap election saw Mrs May lose her Commons majority.

With the DUP looking to exert its new-found influence, and the 13 Scottish Conservatives wanting concessions of their own when it comes to the EU single market, Mrs May finds herself at the mercy of others. The worry is that Yorkshire now has very little influence of its own. Though David Davis is Brexit Secretary, the only MPs from this county to enjoy Ministerial roles are Harrogate’s Andrew Jones, now the Exchequer Secretary, and Scarborough’s Robert Goodwill who has moved to the Department for Education. And although four MPs have been made whips, who will speak up 
for this county?

Jo Cox’s legacy

IT is totally in keeping with Jo Cox’s vivacious personality that the first anniversary of the Batley and Spen MP’s murder should be the prelude to a weekend of celebrations to mark her legacy.

A desperately difficult day for her grieving family, and all those who came to know, admire and respect this force of nature, it’s a measure of Jo’s impact in her all-too-short life that this landmark has inspired The Great Get Together.

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With neighbourhood events intended to celebrate Jo’s view that communities do, in fact, have more in common in a troubled world, the mother-of-two – who was only elected to Parliament in 2015 to represent the area where she grew up – embodied the best of politics and how it should be conducted. As such, it’s all the more tragic that it falls to others to honour her values – she was a politician who genuinely saw the best in everyone that she came across. As her sister Kim Leadbeater said: “I can’t remember anyone not liking Jo.”