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Former minister Eric Pickles insists 'no one spoke to him about cladding' after being criticised in Grenfell report
6 September 2024, 00:00 | Updated: 6 September 2024, 07:56
Eric Pickles has insisted that no one spoke to him about cladding during his time in government, after he was heavily criticised in the final report into the Grenfell Tower fire.
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Lord Pickles, who was Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government from 2010 to 2015, was said to have "enthusiastically supported" a government drive for deregulation, which the inquiry said “dominated the department’s thinking" so much that life saving measures were "ignored, delayed or disregarded”.
The final report into the Grenfell Tower fire, which claimed the lives of 72 people in 2017, found concerns following a similar blaze in 2009 were “repeatedly met with a defensive and dismissive attitude by officials and some ministers”.
Lord Pickles was written to following the deaths of six people at Lakanal House in Camberwell, south London, which explained the building's cladding panels had contributed to the spread of the fire.
Sir Martin Moore-Bick, who chaired the Grenfell inquiry, said he'd expected Lord Pickles to deal directly with the recommendations following the Lakanal House blaze, but said "regrettably, that was not to be".
Read more: Grenfell Tower: Minute by minute of how the tragedy unfolded
The inquiry concluded his department dismissed the coroner's recommendations, which were "not treated with any sense of urgency", eight years before Grenfell.
But the former Secretary of State appeared to blame "middle-ranking officials" for this, telling LBC he was "shocked and appalled" by their attitude towards fire safety, which he said emerged during the Grenfell inquiry.
"I regarded the Coroner’s letter as a very serious matter, so much so that I asked the Department’s Permanent Secretary, the then Sir Bob (later) Lord Kerslake, to oversee the response", he told LBC.
"At the time, neither the Coroner, any MP, news reporter, or member of the public thought the response was unreasonable", Lord Pickles said.
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In response to criticism from a representative from the families of the victims of the Lakanal House blaze, Lord Pickles told LBC: "During my entire time as Secretary of State (2010-15), no one spoke to me about cladding, and I am told there was not a single parliamentary question on cladding.
"During the Inquiry, evidence emerged that middle-ranking officials did not share Bob [Lord Kerslake]'s deep-seated sense of public duty. Their attitude shocked and appalled me. I feel they let down Bob, the government, and, more importantly, the public."
Barrister Christopher Edwards of Old Square Chambers, who represented the Lakanal House victims' families at their inquests, told LBC that Lord Pickles' response letter was "mostly waffle, with a few non-committal assertions that something might happen", and he'd said the matter was "best left to experts".
Grenfell tower survivors react after inquest results are released
Mr Edwards told LBC the former Secretary of State "doesn't seem to have accepted any responsibility", and said he would be "surprised if he ever did".
Sir Martin Moore-Bick, who chaired the Grenfell Inquiry, said there was a “wealth of material” to show Lord Pickles was an “ardent supporter” of deregulation, and “the pressure within the department to reduce red tape was so strong that civil servants felt the need to put it at the forefront of every decision”.
In response to the Grenfell Inquiry's findings, Lord Pickles said he welcomed the recommendations, particularly for "greater transparency and coordination within government".
He said: "I thank the Inquiry Team for their diligence in a detailed examination of the Grenfell fire and hope the lessons learnt ensure that such a tragedy never happens again", adding "my thoughts and prayers are with the survivors and their families."
