Lord Pickles, who served as Secretary of State in the then Ministry of Communities and Local Government between 2010 and 2015, sparked outrage after advising the research senior adviser to “use your time wisely” as he had an extremely tiring day. Pickles said: “In any case, sir, do not hesitate to ask me as many questions as you want, but I can respectfully remind you that you promised to miss us this morning and I have changed my schedule to suit it.” The first report from Grenfell’s investigation found that lessons from the Lacanal House tower fire in 2006 had not been learned until the time of Grenfell’s destruction. In response, Pickles said he had come to the view that a faster response to the medical examiner’s recommendations in 2013 would not have “made any difference”. “This is not a deregulation,” he added, but “anonymous victims” and “96 people” killed. 72 people were killed in the Grenfell fire, all of them named. The 96 Pickles used are the same number of people originally thought to have died in the Hillsborough disaster. “You were dramatically irrelevant to what was going on in your department,” said Richard Millett QC, chief research officer. Pickles replied that it was “characteristically unfair” for the lawyer to say so and that it was a “huge part”. Millett said: “Your department is always subject to the deregulation agenda and now you are trying to redraft this narrative and underestimate what your government was really enthusiastic about a deregulation agenda, which led to a complete lack of proper controls and balances. in terms of life safety “. Pickles replied, “I think it would be rude.” At the end of the hearing, the chairman of the inquiry, Sir Martin Moore-Bick, thanked him for his time, saying: “I’m sorry he intervened in your arrangements for today, but there were things we had to ask.” The Grenfell United survivors’ group criticized Pickles for what he called his “utter contempt” for the victims and called for his removal from the government and the House of Lords. “His utter disdain for what happened and for those who are no longer with us is frightening, given his ability as Minister of Housing to reform the security of buildings,” they said. “Eric Peaks must be removed from the government and the Lords. “Otherwise, the government continues to show the contempt it has always had for the safety of the people in this country.” Yesterday, several British builders signed a government-led pledge to solve fire safety problems in apartment buildings built since 1992. The new Building Safety Pledge commits developers to removing risky investments and dealing with fire safety issues in all 11-meter-high buildings over the past 30 years and not claiming money from the government Building Security Fund.
