Month: September 2024

About 70 firefighters are tackling a blaze at two flats on the ninth and 10th floors of a tower block, London Fire Brigade (LFB) said. The brigade has received more than 50 calls to the fire in Catford, south-east London, as images on social media showed flames and smoke billowing from the building. The LFB said the fire was under control as of around 2.15pm and there were no reports of any injuries. An […]

The Prime Minister has apologised to those affected by the Grenfell Tower disaster on behalf of the British state for the string of failures that led to the fatal fire. Sir Keir Starmer told MPs that the survivors, bereaved families and the community around Grenfell had been “let down very badly” before, during and after the fire that killed 72 people in 2017. His apology followed publication of the final […]

Sir Keir Starmer has claimed Britain’s allies “understand” its move to suspend some arms exports to Israel, insisting it was a “legal not a policy decision”. The Prime Minister also argued “this isn’t an Israel issue” but the Government was required to follow the legal framework on licensing and keep them under review. The UK has suspended around 30 out of a total of approximately 350 licences because of concerns […]

The Government will “carefully consider” the findings of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry to “ensure that such a tragedy cannot occur again”, the Prime Minister has said. The inquiry’s final report, published on Wednesday, found the fire that killed 72 people in 2017 was the result of “decades of failure” by central government and the construction industry to act on the dangers of flammable cladding. In a written statement, Sir Keir […]

The inquiry has found they failed to properly consider the danger of combustible materials in high-rise residential buildings The devastating Grenfell Tower fire which killed 72 people was the result of “decades of failure” by government and the construction industry to act on the dangers of flammable materials on high-rise buildings, a long-awaited report has found. The west London tower block was covered in combustible products because of the “systematic dishonesty” of firms who made […]

Scam-related complaints have reached their highest level since at least early 2018, according to a service that resolves disputes between consumers and financial firms. In the first quarter of this financial year (April 1 to June 30), consumers lodged 8,734 gripes about fraud and scams, the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) said. More than half were in relation to customer-approved online bank transfers, also known as authorised push payment (APP) scams. The quarterly scam complaints […]

Hundreds of healthcare support staff will stage a 48-hour strike from Wednesday in an escalating dispute over pay. Unison said its members at Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Foundation Trust will walk out and mount picket lines outside hospitals. The union said it will be the first time healthcare support staff in London have gone on strike independently of national NHS disputes, highlighting the “gravity” of the situation. Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said: “These […]

Conservative MPs will take part in the first round of voting as they select a successor to Rishi Sunak. The first ballot in the Tory leadership contest will take place on Wednesday afternoon, which will begin the process of narrowing the list of the current six candidates. An announcement on the result of the first round is expected at about 3.30pm. Further voting rounds will take place throughout September, aimed […]

A long-awaited report into the deaths of 72 people in a fire at Grenfell Tower is due to be published more than seven years after the blaze. The lengthy document – the final report of the inquiry into the 2017 disaster – is expected to lay out in detail its findings around the actions of corporate firms in the construction industry, the local authority, London Fire Brigade and government. Families […]