Grenfell Inquiry: Boris Johnson says 'those who suffered so much' deserve 'the truth'

29 October 2019, 23:24

Boris Johnson has spoken ahead of the Grenfell Inquiry’s Phase One report. Picture: PA

By Maddie Goodfellow

The Prime Minister has said in a statement that "no report, no words, no apology will ever make good the loss suffered and trauma experienced" by those "who suffered so much".

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said the government owes those affected by the Grenfell tragedy "the truth".

Speaking ahead of the Grenfell Inquiry's Phase One Report, which is due to be published on Wednesday, Mr Johnson said: “I am very much aware that no report, no words, no apology will ever make good the loss suffered and trauma experienced.

"But I hope that the findings being published today, and the debate we are holding this afternoon, will bring some measure of comfort to those who suffered so much.

He continued: “They asked for the truth. We promised them the truth. We owe them the truth. And, today, the whole country, the whole world, is finally hearing the truth about what happened at Grenfell Tower on the 14th of June 2017.

“For the survivors, the bereaved, and the local community, this report will prove particularly harrowing.

“Yet I hope it strengthens their faith in the Inquiry’s desire to determine the facts of the fire – and in this government’s commitment to airing those facts in public, no matter how difficult they may be, and acting on them. That commitment is absolute.”

72 people were killed in the fire on 14 June 2017.

Boris Johnson said those affected are owed answers. Picture: PA

His comments come as the London Fire Brigade were accused of "systematic" failures and "serious shortcomings" in response to the Grenfell Tower disaster in the official report into the tragedy.

The report also accused LFB Commissioner Dany Cotton of "remarkable insensitivity" after she said she would not have done anything differently on the night.

The report said the Commissioner's evidence "betrayed an unwillingness to confront the fact that by 2017 the LFB knew (even if she personally did not) that there was a more than negligible risk of a serious fire in a high rise building with a cladding system."

The official report into the tragedy has also criticised the London Fire Brigade's "stay put" strategy - when residents were told to remain in the block for nearly two hours after the start of the fire.