Sharon
Hodgson MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Public Health, commenting on
the new Tobacco Control Plan, said:

“Labour
have long campaigned for a new Tobacco Control Plan, including a commitment in
our 2017 manifesto, while the Government have dithered and delayed for eighteen
months. In the House of Commons this month, in response to my question about
this, Ministers finally committed to publishing the plan this summer.

“Whilst
the plan sets out a bold approach to creating a smoke-free society, with a
shift from national action to local action, what it fails to do is recognise
the deep cuts being inflicted upon local councils who are seeing their public
health budgets slashed.

“This
plan can only be effective if the right level of funding is found to implement
it, otherwise it is doomed to fail. Ministers cannot go on any longer ignoring
the implications of their short-sighted cuts to public health budgets, which
are vital to improving our nation’s and our NHS’s health.”

Peter
Dowd MP, Labour’s Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, commenting on
today’s inflation figures, said:

“Despite
the headline fall in inflation, people throughout the country will be worse off
yet again this month, as wages grow more slowly than prices. Real wages are
still lower than they were when the Tories came to power in 2010.

“After
seven years of Conservative failure on the economy, only a Labour government
will tackle the scandal of falling living standards, beginning with a £10 per
hour Real Living Wage and an end to the unfair public sector pay cap.”

Diane
Abbott MP, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, commenting on Government proposals to
increase restrictions on the online sales of knives, said:

“Any and
all sensible measures to prevent knife crime should be considered, but this
measure is likely to be marginal at best.

“The truth is
this Government has failed to address the root causes of knife crime. They have
not mounted effective anti-knives campaigns in schools and colleges, the
voluntary agreement signed with retailers just last year clearly has not
worked, and they have repeatedly broken their promises on sentencing for knife
possession

“Meanwhile,
the police have lost over 20,000 officers since 2010 and cuts to local
authority budgets have seen youth centres and services close across the
country. All of this amounts to a record of failure by this Tory
government.”

Andy McDonald MP, Labour’s Shadow
Secretary of State for Transport,
responding to the awarding of contracts to build the first phase of HS2, said:

“The last Labour government
initiated High Speed 2 and we continue to support the project to increase network
capacity and deliver economic benefits. 

“Labour will press the Government
to ensure that the route causes as little disruption as possible and those
affected are appropriately compensated.

“The Conservative government’s
handling of the project has not inspired confidence, with independent experts
already calculating cost over-runs of the initial section of almost twice the
official figures. The Transport Secretary must reassure the public that
there will be no repeat of the conflict of interest scandal between HS2 and
CH2M. He must also clarify what steps he has taken to assure himself of the
suitability of the decision to award contracts to Carillion, in light of the
company’s recent difficulties. 

“HS2 must deliver value for money
and retain public support, which means ensuring jobs and apprenticeships for
the UK workforce and, crucially, securing the best deal for taxpayers by
running services under public ownership, not for private profit.“

Jeremy Corbyn has today written to Theresa
May to request that the Grenfell Fire
Inquiry team is broadened to improve confidence in the
process and improve representation.

In the letter, Jeremy
Corbyn writes: “The importance of
residents and victims’ families having full confidence in this inquiry cannot
be underestimated.”

He continues: “I urge you to consider broadening the inquiry team to a model more
similar to that used in the McPherson Inquiry, including with representation
from those from minority backgrounds, in order to support the judge leading
this inquiry.”

Labour has urged the
Government to conduct a two-part inquiry in order to get answers to urgent
questions about what happened at Grenfell, with the first part reporting back
this summer to minimise further suffering of survivors.

Labour is asking for the
second part of the inquiry to take a “wide-ranging” look at the issues thrown
up by the disaster. As Jeremy Corbyn writes: “We would be disrespecting the
memory of those who died in the Grenfell fire, and putting further lives at
risk, if we fail to fully learn these lessons. It is therefore our view that an
immediate inquiry into the proximate causes of Grenfell should be supplemented
by a longer-term, more wide-ranging inquiry into the underlying causes of what
went wrong at Grenfell and the extent to which they are replicated on a
national scale.”

The letter has been hand
delivered today ahead of the closure of the consultation into the inquiry terms
of reference.

Ends

The letter in full

Dear
Prime Minister,

I
am writing to set out our response to your consultation on the Terms of
Reference for the inquiry into the fire at Grenfell Tower.

I
strongly welcomed your promise that ‘no stone will be left unturned in this
inquiry,’ and what follows is our assessment of how to ensure that promise is
fulfilled. As stated in earlier correspondence, we believe that the interests
of both Grenfell Tower residents and the general public would be best served by
a two stage inquiry, the first into the specific circumstances around the
Grenfell Tower fire and the second into its national implications.

Stage
one of the inquiry should focus on residents’ urgent questions about what
happened at Grenfell Tower itself, specifically to establish:

·         What
started the fire;

·         Why
it spread so rapidly and whether building regulations were contravened;

·         Why
residents’ complaints about the condition of the building’s fire safety
features were repeatedly ignored;

·         The
priorities informing the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea’s funding and
administrative decisions and what impact, if any, they had on the circumstances
surrounding the fire;

·         The
soundness or otherwise of the advice given to residents during the fire;

·         The
support and advice given to those affected in relation to housing, mental
health, benefits and immigration status after the incident and how effectively
it was communicated and administered by the Council, the Tenant Management
Organisation, task forces, Central Government and any other relevant
organisations,

·         Whether
survivors have been treated reasonably and with due consideration since the
tragedy;

·    The
nature of and reason for any constraints on the emergency service response to
the fire;

·         Whether
existing building regulations are sufficiently clear, up-to-date and strong.

In
addition, the early part of the public inquiry should examine what happened at
Grenfell Tower in relation to the points of concern raised by the Coroners in
rule 43 letters to the Government in 2013, namely: building regulations, the
retrofitting of sprinklers, and advice and information to residents. Any early
assessment of such aspects in light of the Grenfell Tower fire will enable
necessary work to be started early rather than be delayed until after the final
inquiry report.

There
is widespread recognition that Grenfell Tower residents and victims’ families
deserve rapid answers to these questions, and that any undue delay risks adding
to the intolerable levels of suffering they have already experienced. We
suggest that stage one of this inquiry seeks to answer these questions in a
timely fashion, producing an initial report this summer. Enabling the inquiry
to report back rapidly on this specific set of issues would be a major benefit
from conducting it in two stages.

However,
we are also concerned that the information already in the public domain points
to a series of systemic failures that may extend from local to national
government and beyond. We would be disrespecting the memory of those who died
in the Grenfell Tower fire, and putting further lives at risk, if we fail to
fully learn these lessons. It is therefore our view that an immediate inquiry
into the proximate causes of the Grenfell Tower fire should be supplemented by
a longer-term, more wide-ranging inquiry into the underlying causes of what
went wrong and the extent to which they are replicated on a national scale.

Following
the successful template of the Macpherson Inquiry, the rubric for this stage
should be ‘an inquiry into matters arising from the Grenfell Tower fire’, that
is broad enough to allow the inquiry to follow different avenues as and when
they become relevant and appropriate. We anticipate that the issues
covered would include, without being limited to, the following:

·         The
adequacy or otherwise of existing building regulations and their enforcement;

·         Housing
allocation policy;

·         Levels
of funding for local councils, housing associations and the fire service and
its impact on the quality and quantity of services they are able to deliver;

·         The
use of outsourcing and subcontracting to deliver local government and housing responsibilities,
including how widespread it is, why, and its impact on standards and
accountability;

·         The
responsiveness of TMOs and councils to their tenants.

Finally,
it is important to note that effective inquiries command confidence because of
both what they examine and how they are conducted. With this in mind, I urge
you to consider broadening the inquiry team to a model more similar to that
used in the McPherson Inquiry, including with representation from those from
minority backgrounds, in order to support the judge leading this inquiry. In
addition to the stated responsibilities to set out the Terms of Reference, the
Inquiries Act 2005 outlines the responsibilities that government ministers have
in making such appointments.

The importance of
residents and victims’ families having full confidence in this inquiry cannot
be underestimated. As your own Justice Secretary recognised when he told Radio
4’s ‘Law in Action’ programme on 27 June: ‘after the experience with the
Hillsborough families it’s really important to make sure those who have been
absolutely traumatically affected by this disaster have utter confidence that
the inquiry will get to the truth.’ Yet, as you will be aware, for a number of
residents this confidence has so far been lacking. Choosing one of the options
at your disposal to introduce a range of perspectives and experiences into the
inquiry will help to both build trust and deliver justice.

As
I set out in my letter dated 30 June, there is considerable concern among
residents and others that the judge leading the inquiry has already been
directed towards a narrowly defined Terms of Reference, which will not bring
residents the answers they seek. I therefore urge you to give our suggestions
in this letter the fullest consideration.

Given the
importance of these issues, this letter will be made public.

Yours
sincerely, 

Jeremy
Corbyn MP

Leader
of the Opposition