Grenfell fire report: Inquiry finally reveals who was to blame for disaster

A man whose sister was killed in the Grenfell Tower fire has said the inquiry has delayed the justice owed to him and other bereaved families.

Karim Khalloufi, whose sister Khadija was among the 72 who died, told a press conference in central London: "No one has asked me if I wanted this inquiry."

He added: "Maybe I will die without having justice."

Mr Khalloufi was speaking at a briefing given by members of a support group for the next of kin of some the 72 people killed in the tower block blaze in 2017.

Another victim's relative told the event at the Royal Lancaster London hotel he wanted manslaughter charges to be brought, adding "nothing else will do".

The Crown Prosecution Service has said decisions on potential criminal prosecutions are not expected for another two years (see post at 11:40).

Angela Rayner promised to "work tirelessly" to "deliver a stronger culture of safety" following the publication of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry's final report.

The Deputy Prime Minister, who also serves as Housing Secretary, said in a post on X: "We remember the 72 innocent lives lost in the Grenfell Tower tragedy. My thoughts are with the bereaved families, the survivors and residents in the immediate community.

"As Keir Starmer said, on behalf of the British state we apologise to each and every one of them.

"The Grenfell community has campaigned tirelessly to push for justice & change. My promise to them is to work tirelessly, with urgency & care, to deliver a stronger culture of safety across the system from top to bottom."

Rishi Sunak has paid tribute to the "strength and patience" of Grenfell Tower survivors, some of whom were in the House of Commons public gallery.

Responding to the Prime Minister's statement, the Tory leader said: "It is not hyperbole to say that we would not be here today without them.

"It was their tenacity and strength that brought the truth to light and for that, they deserve our thanks.

"Their search for truth and justice is a noble one, and for that, they have our full support."

Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey has called for legislation on a duty of candour for public officials to be brought forward in light of the findings in the Grenfell Tower report.

He said: "We must tackle the big, systemic issues that come up time and again in scandals like this, from Hillsborough to Horizon to infected blood.

"Like other scandal victims, the bereaved and survivors of Grenfell have called for a duty of candour on public officials, and we welcomed its inclusion in the King's Speech.

"So can the Prime Minister tell us when that legislation will be published and whether the duty will cover all public officials?"

Sir Keir Starmer replied in the Commons: "This duty of candour is very, very important, and we'll look again at it in light of this report, but we're determined to bring forward that legislation as quickly as we can.

"It's long overdue, but I do think, having looked at some of the report already, that it's worth reflecting and making sure what's in the report is incorporated into whatever law that we do bring forward."

Former prime minister Rishi Sunak has told the House of Commons the Grenfell Inquiry report is "a damning indictment of over 30 years of successive state failures".

Responding to Sir Keir Starmer's statement, Mr Sunak said: "Whilst the Grenfell community's loss will have left a hole nothing will ever be able to fill, I hope that whatever healing is possible from today, that each and every one of them takes some small measure of it.

"I know they will never forget the 72 people who tragically lost their lives, and nor shall we. Today's publication, as the Prime Minister said, is to put it bluntly, a damning indictment of over 30 years of successive state failures, stretching as far back as Knowsley Heights in 1991 and then multiple incidents from there.

"Sir Martin Moore-Bick and the work of the inquiry have painted a picture of systemic indifference, failure and in some notable cases, dishonesty and greed."

Sir Keir Starmer has said he intends to speed up the process of removing unsafe cladding from buildings, as it is currently moving "far too slow".

Outlining the Government's next steps following the Grenfell Inquiry report, the Prime Minister said: "We're now addressing the recommendation from Sir Martin's first report to introduce a new residential personal emergency evacuation plan policy for anyone whose ability to evacuate could be compromised, and funding from this from renting and social housing.

"We will look at all 58 of Sir Martin's recommendations in detail.

"There will be a debate on the floor of this House, we will respond in full to the inquiry's recommendations within six months, and we will update Parliament annually on our progress against every commitment that we make.

"But there are some things I can say right now, there are still buildings today with unsafe cladding, and the speed at which this is being addressed is far, far too slow, we only have to look at the fire in Dagenham last week, a building that was still in the process of having its cladding removed.

"So this must be a moment of change, we will take the necessary steps to speed this up, we will be willing to force freeholders to assess their buildings and enter remediation schemes within set timetables, with a legal requirement to force action if that is what it takes, and we will set out further steps on remediation this autumn."

Sir Keir Starmer has promised the families of the Grenfell Tower victims he will "demand" building safety.

He told the Commons: "After all you've been through, you may feel you're always one step away from another betrayal, I get that, and I know I cannot change that with just words today.

"But what I can say is, I listened carefully to one of the members of the inquiry, Ali Akbor, this morning who said this: 'What is needed is for those with responsibility for building safety to reflect and to treat Grenfell as a touchstone in all that they do in the future'.

"I consider myself someone responsible for building safety, and that is exactly what I will do, and what I will demand of this Government."

Some of the bereaved families were in the public gallery as Sir Keir delivered his response to the Inquiry report.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said the Government would write to all companies found by the Grenfell Inquiry to be part of the "horrific failings" at the west London tower block "as the first step to stopping them being awarded Government contracts".

The PM told the Commons: "It is imperative that there is full accountability, including through the criminal justice process, and that this happens as swiftly as possible.

"So I can tell the House today that this Government will write to all companies found by the inquiry to be part of these horrific failings as the first step to stopping them being awarded Government contracts.

"And we will of course, support the Metropolitan Police and the prosecutors as they complete their investigations."

Several people have been criticised in the Grenfell Inquiry's final report over their role in the disaster.

They include figures from both local and central government accused of repeated failures in their duties.

Nicholas Holgate was chief executive at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC).

Mr Holgate's response to the disaster was strongly criticised by Sir Martin, who found he had been "unduly concerned for RBKC's reputation".

Describing Mr Holgate as "reluctant to take advice" from those with more experience, Sir Martin said he was "not capable of taking effective control of the situation and mobilising support of the right kind without delay".

He resigned on June 22 2017, eight days after the fire.

The inquiry found an "entrenched reluctance" on the part of Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation boss Robert Black to tell either his board or the local authority's scrutiny committee about fire safety issues or LFB's concerns about compliance with safety regulations.

It said: "That failure was all the more serious because there were chronic and systemic failings in the TMO's management of fire safety of which the board should have been made aware."

During the inquiry, retired judge Sir Martin Moore-Bick heard Mr Black waited two hours before forwarding a list of residents to firefighters on the night of the blaze, saying his organisation had no role in emergency planning.

Mr Black quit as KCTMO chief executive on June 30 2017, 16 days after the fire.

Carl Stokes was fire assessor at Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO).

A former firefighter, Mr Stokes was responsible for carrying out fire assessments for the whole of KCTMO's estate.

The inquiry found he had been "allowed to drift into" his role, for which he was not qualified.

The report said: "He had misrepresented his experience and qualifications (some of which he had invented) and was ill-qualified to carry out fire risk assessments on buildings the size and complexity of Grenfell Tower, let alone to hold the entire TMO portfolio.

"As a result there was a danger that fire risk assessments would not meet the required standard."

The report said Mr Stokes' methods for carrying out fire risk assessments "suffered from serious shortcomings", including often failing to check whether the TMO had taken action to respond to identified risks.

London Fire Brigade officers had also expressed concerns about his competence, but KCTMO "continued to rely uncritically on him", making the danger "more acute".

Brian Martin was principal construction professional at the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG).

Mr Martin had been the civil servant in charge of building regulations for fire safety for 17 years by the time of the fire, including the guidance in Approved Document B, the official fire safety guidance for the construction industry.

Sir Martin's inquiry found he had been given "too much freedom of action without adequate oversight" and repeatedly failed to bring fire safety risks to the attention of his superiors.

The report said: "It is not clear how Brian Martin was chosen to be the official with day-to-day responsibility for the Building Regulations and Approved Document B, why he was allowed to remain in that position for so long, or why he was allowed to wield so much influence over the department's response to developments."

The inquiry found Mr Martin had shown "little appetite" for reviewing Approved Document B, even after the inquests into a fire at Lakanal House in Camberwell, south London, in 2009. He also played a role in shutting down the Building Research Establishment's investigation into the fire after barely a month, citing concerns about the cost of an investigation.

The inquiry accused him of making "misleading statements" to the Lakanal House inquests and providing "disingenuous" advice to then-housing minister Don Foster after the inquests concluded in 2013, in which he "set out to give the minister to understand that the coroner's concerns were in fact groundless".

Lord Pickles was secretary of state in the department responsible for building regulations. The inquiry found he oversaw a culture focused on deregulation, where civil servants felt unable to raise concerns about fire safety.

Sir Martin said there was a "wealth of material" to show Lord Pickles was an "ardent supporter" of deregulation and "the pressure within the department to reduce red tape was so strong that civil servants felt the need to put it at the forefront of every decision".

Lord Pickles himself told the inquiry he would have regarded it as "ludicrous" if civil servants thought the drive for deregulation covered building regulations, but Sir Martin said documentary evidence supported claims by officials that deregulation was "a dominant influence within the department".

He said it was "not uncommon" for the building regulations and standards division to receive emails thanking them for their efforts in meeting Lord Pickles' "ambition on deregulation".

The report said: "In the years that followed the Lakanal House fire the Government's deregulatory agenda, enthusiastically supported by some junior ministers and the secretary of state (Lord Pickles), dominated the department's thinking to such an extent that even matters affecting the safety of life were ignored, delayed or disregarded."

It concluded: "The failure to foster a culture in which concerns could be raised and frank advice given represents a serious failure of leadership on the part of ministers and senior officials."

During the inquiry itself, Lord Pickles provoked outrage from survivors after giving the wrong figure for the number of people killed in the disaster, saying 96 rather than 72.

After publication of the report, Lord Pickles said: "I welcome the recommendation of the Grenfell Inquiry. I particularly welcome the call for greater transparency and co-ordination within government.

"I thank the Inquiry Team for their diligence in a detailed examination of the Grenfell fire and hope the lessons learnt ensure that such a tragedy never happens again. My thoughts and prayers are with the survivors and their families."

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said those affected by the Grenfell Tower disaster were "let down very badly before, during and in the aftermath of the tragedy".

He offered them an apology on behalf of the British state in a speech to Parliament after Prime Minister's Questions.

Former prime minister Baroness Theresa May of Maidenhead, who was PM at the time of the fire, said today's report is a significant step in providing the Grenfell community with the answers they deserve.

She said we now know the 72 victims' deaths were avoidable and the lives of their loved ones, and all those living in and around the tower, were changed irrevocably on the night of the fire.

Baroness May added: "I would like to thank Sir Martin (Moore-Bick) and his team for the dedication and tenacity they have shown in getting to the truth and for this forensic and powerful final report.

"I know that, while necessary, the inquiry process can be immensely distressing for all those involved.

"I would like to pay tribute to the bereaved families and the survivors for the dignity they have shown in the face of a tragedy so extreme, it is beyond our imagining.

"Children, parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, nieces, nephews, good friends and loving partners, were all lost the night of the fire.

"Amid this devastation, the people of Grenfell not only began rebuilding their lives, they also consistently campaigned for justice for those who died."

Louise Gittins, Chair of the Local Government Association, which represents councils across England, said: "Our thoughts today are with those who tragically lost their life at Grenfell Tower, the survivors and the wider community so profoundly affected by this tragedy.

"It is hard to comprehend the unimaginable loss and trauma so many have experienced following that fateful day – a pain that, unfortunately, will never go away.

"The disaster that unfolded at Grenfell Tower must never be allowed to happen again and the LGA and councils will take time to properly consider this vital report and its recommendations.

"Local government stands ready to work with the Government on improving building safety and ensuring no-one has to live in fear about their safety, be that in the buildings they live in, work in or visit."

Exova provided fire safety advice to Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO) for the proposed tower refurbishment.

The final report found that Exova "bears considerable responsibility for the fact that Grenfell Tower was in a dangerous condition on completion of the refurbishment".

The "most serious criticism" it said, was that Exova "failed to produce a final version of the fire safety strategy" for the refurbished building and had "failed" to warn the design team about the potential consequences of that.

It stated: "Exova's attitude was wholly inconsistent with the careful approach to matters affecting the safety of life to be expected of a reasonably competent fire engineer."

The Building Research Establishment had, the report noted, held a trusted position within the construction industry and was recognised both nationally and internationally as a leader in fire safety.

But it added: "However, from 1991 much of the work it carried out in relation to testing the fire safety of external walls was marred by unprofessional conduct, inadequate practices, a lack of effective oversight, poor reporting and a lack of scientific rigour."

It had been a government agency providing independent advice and information on building performance, construction and fire safety in the UK, before it was privatised in 1997.

Senior BRE staff gave advice to customers including Kingspan and Celotex, the inquiry said, on the best way to satisfy the criteria for a system to be considered safe, "thereby compromising its integrity and independence".

The report said in some cases there was "evidence of a desire to accommodate existing customers and to retain its status within the industry at the expense of maintaining the rigour of its processes and considerations of public safety".

Rydon was appointed in 2014 as the design and build contractor for the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower. Along with architect Studio E it was deemed to have taken "a casual approach to contractual relations".

The report said Rydon "saw its role as as little more than the conductor of a large and varied orchestra", and had not employed anyone with the "knowledge and skills required to design or carry out the refurbishment".

The report found Rydon was "ill-equipped to oversee the work of its sub-contractors and consultants" and that the firm and others appeared to have "assumed that someone else was, or should be, taking responsibility for critical decisions, such as the choice of insulation, rainscreen panels and other materials".

Architect Studio E was responsible for the design of the external wall and the choice of materials used in the construction.

Its "failure to recognise" the ACM (aluminium composite material) was dangerous and to warn the tenant management organisation (TMO) against using it "represented a failure to act in accordance with the standard of a reasonably competent architect".

Its failure also to recognise that the Celotex insulation was combustible and unsuitable for use in a high-rise meant it "bears a very significant degree of responsibility for the disaster".

The company has long said its K15 insulation product made up five percent of the insulation in the tower block and was used without its knowledge.

But the report found Kingspan "knowingly created a "false market in insulation" from 2005 onwards for use on buildings over 18 metres tall by claiming its K15 product had been part of a system that had been successfully tested under the BS 8414 cladding fire safety test, meaning it could be used in the wall of any building of that height regardless of its design or other components.

The inquiry branded this a "false claim", adding: "As Kingspan knew, K15 could not honestly be sold as suitable for use in the external walls of buildings over 18 metres in height generally, but that is what it had succeeded in doing for many years."

Kingspan relied on the results of a single cladding fire safety test performed in 2005, on a system whose components were not representative of a typical external wall, the report said, and found that the firm continued to rely on that test despite changing the composition of K15 in 2006.

Further tests on systems incorporating K15 in the following two years were "disastrous", the report said, but Kingspan did not withdraw the product from the market, "despite its own concerns about its fire performance".

In 2009, Kingspan obtained a certificate that "contained false statements about K15", the report said, and on which it relied "for many years to sell the product", adding that it made a "calculated decision" to use the certificate to "mask, or distract from, the absence of supporting test evidence".

The report said Kingspan "cynically exploited" the industry's lack of detailed knowledge about insulation and cladding fire safety tests, and "relied on the fact that an unsuspecting market was very likely to rely on its own claim about the product".

Celotex was the manufacturer of most of the insulation boards used in the Grenfell Tower refurbishment.

Its Rs5000 was one of the insulation components used in the Grenfell Tower rainscreen cladding system and its TB4000 insulation was used to fill gaps in the window surrounds during the refurbishment of the tower.

The inquiry's final report concluded it had "embarked on a dishonest scheme to mislead its customers and the wider market" in an attempt to break into a market which had been dominated by Kingspan.

In 2014 Celotex tested "with the complicity of BRE (Building Research Establishment)" a system incorporating RS5000 which contained "two sets of fire-resistant magnesium oxide boards placed in critical positions to ensure that it passed".

A test report "omitted any reference to the magnesium oxide boards, thereby rendering it materially incomplete and misleading" and the product was marketed as the first to meet that test and as "acceptable for use in buildings above 18 metres in height".

But the test Celotex relied on to support this claim "had been manipulated as we have described above, a fact that Celotex did not disclose in its marketing literature".

The system test did not involve the testing or classification of individual products, something Celotex had "deliberately" tucked away "in the small print of its marketing literature", the report said.

Arconic Architectural Products made and sold the Reynobond 55 cladding panels with a polyethylene (PE) core which were used in the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower and were later found to have fuelled the blaze.

The final report noted polyethylene "burns fiercely" and, when used in cassette form (as in three-dimensional structures), the Reynobond 55 PE was "extremely dangerous".

It stated that from 2005 until after the Grenfell Tower fire Arconic "deliberately concealed from the market the true extent of the danger of using Reynobond 55 in cassette form, particularly on high-rise buildings".

By summer 2011, Arconic was "well aware Reynobond 55 PE cassette form performed much worse in a fire and was considerably more dangerous than in riveted form" but was "determined to exploit what it saw as weak regulatory regimes in certain countries (including the UK) to sell it in cassette form "including for use on residential buildings".

Even after cladding fires in Dubai in 2012 and 2013, Arconic did not consider withdrawing the product in favour of the fire-resistant version, instead "it allowed customers in the UK to continue buying the unmodified product, giving them to understand that it would tell them if it was unsuitable for the use to which they intended to put it, although without any intention of doing so".

Further testing in 2013 saw Arconic decide Reynobond 55 PE would be certified as Class E only - which deems a product to be combustible and only able to resist a small flame for a few seconds - whether used in either riveted or cassette form.

It did not pass that information on to its customers in the UK, a move the inquiry deemed as "not an oversight", adding: "It reflected a deliberate strategy to continue selling Reynobond 55 PE in the UK based on a statement about its fire performance that it knew to be false."

Responding to the inquiry, Arconic said it was its subsidiary, Arconic Architectural Products SAS (AAP), which had supplied the material used for cladding in the tower's refurbishment and that it rejects "any claim that AAP sold an unsafe product" and "did not conceal information from or mislead any certification body, customer, or the public".

Bereaved and survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire have said the inquiry's final damning report shows they were "failed by calculated dishonesty and greed".

Grenfell United, which represents some of the families, said Sir Martin Moore-Bick's findings made it clear their lawyers were correct to tell the inquiry that corporate bodies, such as Kingspan, Celotex and Arconic, were "little better than crooks and killers".

They criticised previous governments who they said "aided corporations, facilitating them to profit and dictate regulation" and called on some of the firms involved to be banned from government contracts.

Speaking after the report was published, Natasha Elcock, on behalf of Grenfell United, said: "We paid the price of systematic dishonesty, institutional indifference and neglect."

She added: "Human life was never a priority, and we lost friends, neighbours and loved ones in the most horrific way - from greed, corruption, competence and negligence."

The chairman of the National Fire Chiefs Council, which represents fire services, said the recommendations in the final Grenfell Tower report would be given their "full attention".

Mark Hardingham said: "The 72 people who lost their lives in the Grenfell Tower fire are at the forefront of our minds as we read today's report. We know how difficult and painful it will be for their families and loved ones reading the report.

"Whilst no words can ever lessen their grief, our thoughts are with them and all those who continue to be affected by the fire.

"We also reflect on the actions of the firefighters, emergency services workers and members of the local community who responded to the fire. They faced indescribably harrowing scenes, and we remember their selflessness and bravery.

"Fire and rescue services are better prepared to respond to fires in high-rise residential buildings since the phase 1 report was published, but we must continue to reflect and learn from the systemic failures that led to the loss of 72 lives."

A fatal fire at a housing block in 2009 should have alerted the London Fire Brigade (LFB) to "shortcomings" in its ability to fight blazes in high-rise buildings, the report has found.

The Lakanal House fire in Camberwell, south London, "foreshadowed" the 2017 Grenfell Tower blaze, according to the report.

It concluded the LFB failed to "implement any effective response" to the fire in July 2009, which claimed six lives, despite understanding its lessons.

The report identified several key measures that should have been implemented by the LFB after that incident.

These included making better use of the knowledge it had gained of the dangers posed by modern materials and methods of construction, and providing regular training for its control room operators on handling many fire survival guidance calls at the same time.

Sir Keir Starmer is appearing at Prime Minister's Questions.

You can view our live feed below.

The Grenfell Tower Inquiry's final report makes a series of detailed and damning conclusions.

Our summary of the report's main findings can be found here.

In the immediate aftermath of the blaze, when the nation and families were still mourning, more than a dozen unscrupulous individuals tried to falsely claim they had been affected by the disaster for their own gain.

Derrick Peters was among those convicted. He was jailed for six years in August 2018. The 58-year-old lied to judge and Kensington and Chelsea council saying he had been living with a friend who was killed in the Grenfell fire.

He claimed the blaze had affected his mental state and he was accommodated at Kensington's Park Grand Hotel for six months at the cost of £40,000.

Decisions on potential criminal prosecutions over the Grenfell Tower fire are not expected for another two years, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has said.

Frank Ferguson, head of the CPS special crime and counter-terrorism division, said: “Our thoughts remain with the bereaved families and the survivors at what must be an extremely difficult time.

“We have been working closely with the Metropolitan Police Service throughout their investigation and will therefore be in a strong position to review the completed evidential file, which they anticipate will be passed to us in 2026.

“Our team of specialist prosecutors will then carefully review the file but do not expect to be in a position to make any charging decisions until the end of 2026.

“Due to the sheer volume of evidence and complexity of the investigation, we will need to take the necessary time to thoroughly evaluate the evidence before providing final charging decisions.”

Moore-Bick has now moved on to the ninth part of the report, which he describes as the "most personal" and contains the "most difficult reading". It discusses the circumstances surrounding the deaths of those who died in the fire.

Above all, the fire was a "human tragedy", he stresses, resulting in numerous lives lost, families torn apart, homes ruined and a community devastated.

He acknowledges that while this may make for "painful reading", those who have lost loved ones naturally feel a need to know as much as possible.

"We are satisfied that all those who died in the building were overcome by toxic gases produced by the fire," he states.

With the help of experts, he says a reasonably accurate time of death has been determined in each case.

He further adds that all those whose bodies were damaged by the fire "were already dead by the time it reached them".

The report finds that "religious and cultural discrimination" led to failures in the lead up to the blaze.

The report outlines several ways the construction industry must change to prevent future tragedies. These include:

The appointment of a construction regulator to supervise the entire construction industry.

Consolidating responsibility for all fire safety aspects under a single government department.

Implementing compulsory fire safety strategies for buildings at higher risk.

Establishment of a college dedicated to fire and rescue.

The Grenfell Tower inquiry has found that residents were "badly let down by organisations that should have protected them". Sir Martin Moore-Bick specifically criticised Kensington and Chelsea Borough Council for failing to have emergency plans in place.

The council was unable to identify those requiring accommodation and assistance, leaving it unable to address the "immediate needs" of the affected individuals. In the absence of council support, local voluntary and community groups stepped in to provide rest centres and aid.

Eventually, the government intervened, arranging for the city town clerk to take charge of the response.

The Mayor of London said firms held responsible by the inquiry should be banned from receiving public contracts, and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) should look into bringing criminal cases.

Mr Khan said: “The Grenfell Tower fire isn’t just a heart-breaking tragedy, it’s a horrific injustice and a national disgrace. That the lives of 72 Londoners were stolen from us in such circumstances is a moral outrage.

“The inquiry makes clear in stark terms that all these deaths were entirely avoidable, and that the residents of Grenfell Tower have paid the price for systematic dishonesty, corporate greed and institutional indifference and neglect.”

He said “profit has been put before people” which “isn’t just shameful, it’s utterly indefensible”.

Mr Khan added that “more must now be done to hold those responsible to account, including banning any of the companies held responsible by the inquiry from receiving any public contracts as the police and CPS look into bringing criminal prosecutions”.

London Fire Brigade said it was now “better prepared” to respond to high-rise fires but would not be “complacent”.

Commissioner Andy Roe said: “We have introduced important policies, new equipment, improved training and better ways of working, particularly in how we respond to fires in high-rise residential buildings, and Londoners are safer as a result. This was evidenced at the awful fire in Dagenham late last month."

The Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO), which managed Grenfell Tower at the time of the fire, said: “We are acutely conscious of the terrible impact that this tragedy has had on the bereaved, the survivors, their relatives, and the broader Grenfell Tower community.

“We accept that the TMO contributed to this and we are deeply sorry.

“We continue to offer our deepest condolences and sympathies to all those affected.

“We sincerely hope that the findings of this comprehensive report will lead to safer homes for all those in social housing.”

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the report from Sir Martin Moore-Bick’s Grenfell Tower inquiry identified “substantial and widespread failings”.

He said: “My thoughts today are wholly with those bereaved by, and survivors of, the Grenfell Tower tragedy and the residents in the immediate community. This day is for them.

“I hope that Sir Martin’s report can provide the truth they have sought for so long, and that it is step towards the accountability and justice they deserve.”

In a statement to Parliament, Sir Keir said: “The Government will carefully consider the report and its recommendations, to ensure that such a tragedy cannot occur again.

“I hope that those outside Government will do the same.

“Given the detailed and extensive nature of the report, a further and more in-depth debate will be held at a later date,” he added.

The report outlines a series of government failures that led to the tragic deaths of 72 people.

They outline seven key reasons why the fire was able to spiral into such a disaster:

The report has laid bare the "systematic dishonesty" of cladding manufacturers, pinpointing them as the "by far the largest contributor" to the Grenfell Tower tragedy. It was revealed that Arconic, the makers of the tower's exterior panels, "deliberately concealed" safety risks, while insulation producers Celotex and Kingspan were found guilty of "misleading" practices.

Companies involved in the 2011 refurbishment of the tower, such as Arconic, Studio E and Harley Facades, have been deemed to hold "significant" responsibility for the disaster. Project manager Rydon's oversight is said to have fostered a culture of "buck-passing".

Governments from the early 1990s are accused of missing "many opportunities" to tackle the dangers of flammable cladding, leading to "decades of failure".

The 2010 Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition faces severe criticism for its deregulation agenda, which resulted in safety concerns being "ignored, delayed or disregarded".

Furthermore, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea council, along with its Tenant Management Organisation, showed a "persistent indifference to fire safety, particularly the safety of vulnerable people".

The London Fire Brigade also comes under fire for lacking an evacuation strategy once they lost control of the situation, operating under an "unfounded assumption" that a blaze like the one at Grenfell Tower could not occur.

Details of the Grenfell Tower fire inquiry report are now being published.

Part of the findings say distrust, dislike and anger of the Grenfell Tower landlords towards residents led to "a serious failure... to observe basic responsibilities".

The chairman of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, Sir Martin Moore-Bick, said some occupants regarded Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO) as a "bullying overlord" and a "toxic atmosphere" was "fuelled by mistrust on both sides".

The report concluded the KCTMO "lost sight" of the fact that residents "depended on it for a safe and decent home", and it regarded some as "militant troublemakers".

Despite the findings, the report concluded that the inquiry had seen "no evidence that any decisions directly affecting the design or execution of the refurbishment (completed in 2016) were affected by racial or social prejudice".

Sir Martin's report said KCTMO was also "unduly concerned with reducing costs" of a refurbishment between 2012 and 2016.

He said Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) Council's oversight of KCTMO's performance was "weak", adding that "fire safety was not subject to any key performance indicator".

The report concluded: "The absence of any independent or rigorous scrutiny by RBKC of the TMO's performance of its health and safety obligations, and in particular its management of fire safety, was a particular weakness."

All of the victims of the Grenfell Tower disaster whose bodies were destroyed by fire were dead or unconscious by the time the flames reached them, an inquiry has found.

In the final report into the fire, chairman Sir Martin Moore-Bick made some findings on the 72 victims' cause of death, in the hope that it would assist the coroner.

The report found all of the victims burned by the fire were dead or unconscious due to "inhalation of asphyxiant gases", primarily carbon monoxide.

Several of those who died lived in the council-owned building, while others were visiting friends and family.

The youngest victim was a stillborn baby boy who never got to meet his two big sisters. Among the eldest victims was an 84-year-old great-grandmother of three who had lived at the tower for over 30 years.

A firefighter involved in tackling the Grenfell Tower fire has said there were a "cataclysmic series of failings" in the building.

Ricky Nuttall, who was forced to abandon an attempt to rescue a resident from the 15th floor, defended the "stay put" advice initially given to people in the building, saying firefighters were unaware of the state of the tower.

He told the BBC: "The idea of a 'stay put' policy is - its principles are founded on a building working as it should.

"At the time, as a firefighter on the ground, we had no idea that the building wasn't built as it should be, that areas were compromised, that fire doors weren't fitted, that smoke vents wouldn't open, that the outside of the building was effectively covered in petrol, a flammable material that's going to burn rapidly, window sills weren't fitted correctly.

"There were a cataclysmic list of failings with the building, and none of that information was available to us at the time."

Sandra Ruiz, whose 12-year-old niece, Jessica Urbano Ramirez, died in the fire, has said that for her "there’s no justice without people going behind bars".

She added: "Our lives were shattered on that night. People need to be held accountable. People who have made decisions putting profit above people’s safety need to be behind bars."

Today's report will come just over a week after a huge fire in east London at a block which was undergoing work to have cladding removed as a result of what happened at Grenfell.

The non-fatal blaze in Dagenham, coming so many years after the 2017 fire, prompted fierce criticism from the bereaved and survivors group Grenfell United, which said it showed the "painfully slow progress of remediation across the country, and a lack of urgency for building safety as a whole".

Dame Judith Hackitt, who led an independent review into building regulations after the Grenfell fire, described it as "really concerning" so many people are still living in uncertainty and fear about the safety of their homes.

Survivors and bereaved families worry the report may spread blame too widely to see anyone punished.

Police are investigating dozens of individuals and companies and considering charges, including corporate and individual manslaughter.

But they say any prosecutions must wait for the inquiry’s end and are unlikely to come before late 2026.

The Grenfell Next of Kin group said in a statement: "We were denied justice for seven years and [are] now told there will be several more years.

"Our realistic concern is that the ‘web of blame’ presented through the Inquiry will be a barrier to our justice."

Inquiry chair Martin Moore-Bick has said the final report will examine the “decisions which led to the installation of a highly combustible cladding system on a high-rise residential building”.

Grenfell Tower had been covered during a refurbishment with aluminum and polyethylene cladding — a layer of foam insulation topped by two sheets of aluminum sandwiched around a layer of polyethylene, a combustible plastic polymer which melts and drips on exposure to heat.

In the wake of the fire, the Government banned metal composite cladding panels for all new buildings and ordered similar combustible cladding to be removed from hundreds of tower blocks across the country.

But it’s an expensive job and the work hasn’t been carried out on some apartment buildings because of wrangling over who should pay.

Grenfell Tower was a public housing block in one of London’s richest neighborhoods.

Many victims were working-class people with immigrant roots. The victims came from 23 countries. They included taxi drivers and architects, a poet, an acclaimed young artist, retirees and 18 children.

The inquiry, announced by the government the morning after the blaze, has held more than 300 public hearings and examined around 1,600 witness statements.

An initial report published in 2019, looking at what happened the night of the fire, criticized the fire department for telling residents to stay in their apartments and await rescue.

The advice was changed almost two hours after the fire broke out, but it was too late for many on the upper floors to escape.

Grenfell Tower still stands but it has been shrouded in a white covering for years. A giant green heart design can be seen at the top of the block, along with the words: Grenfell, forever in our hearts.

Retired judge and inquiry chairperson Martin Moore-Bick is to deliver the findings at 11am.

The six-year investigation examined how building flaws, lax enforcement of safety standards and mistakes by emergency responders contributed to the shocking death toll in the Grenfell Tower blaze.

The final report may give survivors some of the answers they have long sought — though not prosecutions for those responsible.

Criminal charges are on hold until after the inquiry concludes.

We'll be bringing you all the latest on the final Grenfell Inquiry report.

It is due to be released at 11am.

More to follow.