Grenfell fire memorial to be backed by new law

The government will introduce legislation to fund a permanent memorial to the 72 people who died in the Grenfell Tower fire, the housing secretary has announced.

Speaking in the Commons, Steve Reed said the Bill would provide the spending authority needed to support the Memorial Commission and the community in building and maintaining a "lasting and dignified memorial".

He said honouring the memory of those who died in the June 2017 fire was an "enduring duty" of the state.

Survivors and bereaved relatives were present in the public gallery as he delivered his statement.

The fire at Grenfell Tower in Kensington, west London, was described by Reed as a "terrible moment in British history".

"We will not forget what happened that night. We must make sure that nothing like it can ever happen again," he said.

Work on dismantling the tower began in September with an estimated completion time of two years.

The Grenfell Tower Memorial Commission and Royal Institute of British Architects announced in November that Freehaus was the chosen firm to design the memorial.

Updating MPs on the implementation of the Grenfell Inquiry recommendations, Reed said the government had accepted all 58 recommendations of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry and was on track to complete 70% of them by the end of this year.

Since the publication of the inquiry's final report, he said 10 Phase 2 recommendations and two outstanding Phase 1 recommendations had been completed.

All remaining recommendations would be implemented during this Parliament, he added.

Alongside the memorial funding legislation, the government published a Construction Products Reform White Paper, setting out plans for a new single construction regulator and changes to modernise building product rules.

Reed said the Building Safety Regulator would "evolve into the regulator the inquiry recommended" and confirmed a consultation on those reforms had opened.

He also announced that new regulations requiring emergency evacuation plans for high-rise buildings would come into force on 6 April, aimed at ensuring vulnerable residents have a plan to escape in the event of a fire.

On cladding, Reed told MPs that work to remove and replace unsafe ACM cladding – the same type used on Grenfell Tower – had been completed on 91% of high-rise residential and public buildings, with work at most of the remaining sites now under way.

"For the bereaved and survivors and the wider Grenfell community, the need for justice is deeply felt, including decisions on criminal charges," Reed said.

The minister said the Metropolitan Police investigation was one of the most complex it had ever conducted, adding: "I know the slow progress is painful for those who have already waited too long for the justice they deserve."

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