Grenfell victims 'may not be identified until year-end'
Victims' families are reportedly "very angry and upset" as they attend a private meeting with a coroner and the Met Police.
Tuesday 4 July 2017 23:33, UK
Victims of the Grenfell Tower fire may not be identified until the end of the year, their families have been told.
Relatives of the victims of the 14 June disaster were said to be distressed at the estimate, as they held a private meeting on Tuesday evening with a coroner and the Metropolitan Police.
They were told that the "recovery phase", where the authorities identify bodies, could take until the end of the year, according to Lotifa Begum, a coordinator with the charity Muslim Aid.
She said some of the families inside the meeting were "very upset and angry", and a few had been overwhelmed and had to leave.
The meeting took place at the Olympia London in West Kensington, just over a mile from the site of the disaster, with Westminster coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox and Met Police Commander Stuart Cundy in attendance.
It lasted several hours, but some families lamented not being able to ask questions directly.
"Why would you not take questions if you don't have anything to hide?" said Chris Imafidon, adding he felt "insulted".
Residents of the tower block have been frustrated at the authorities' response to the fire, with trust in the public figures handling the aftermath of the disaster plummeting.
Last week, the leader of Kensington and Chelsea Council, Nicholas Paget-Brown, stepped down amid fierce criticism over his response to the blaze.
Communities and Local Government Secretary Sajid Javid said local government faces a crisis of trust in the wake of the disaster.
In a speech to the Local Government Association's conference in Birmingham, Mr Javid said the poor response in the aftermath of the fire had added to the suffering of victims.
"Speaking to survivors, people in the local community, and people in tower blocks around the country, one thing is abundantly clear - local government is facing a looming crisis of confidence," he said.
He said the public inquiry would get to the bottom of what happened but acknowledged "there may have been failures by individuals, failures by organisations and failures of public policy at all levels stretching back several decades".
"In Britain, in 2017, the fire at Grenfell simply should not have been possible."
But the comments sparked anger among some delegates, who said Mr Javid was wrong to assume that the failings of one council in handling the disaster could be ascribed to all local government without distinction.
Nick Forbes of Newcastle City Council, said the speech "went down like a bucket of cold sick".
He told Sky News the secretary of state had insulted many people, and called his comments very "ill-judged" and "outrageous".
He said: "Kensington and Chelsea, a flagship Tory council, has colossally failed, but it is outrageous for Sajid Javid to attempt to tar every local council with the same brush.
"Over the last few weeks Labour councils have strained every sinew to ensure that residents are safe and secure in their own homes, and many have offered to give direct help to the disaster response in Kensington.
"This was a shameless attempt to shift the blame for a decade of Tory cuts onto the very councils that have suffered most from them."
At least 80 people died when the blaze engulfed the tower in west London, with the building's external cladding blamed for the rapid spread of the blaze.
The Government has ordered an inquiry, but residents and survivors have said they have no trust in the process and in the man chosen to lead it, retired judge Sir Martin Moore-Bick.
He has been criticised after indicating his investigation would be limited to the causes of the fire, why it spread so quickly and how it could be prevented in future, and some are .
But the Government has to Sir Martin.