Housing minister Rushanara Ali has given up the Building Safety Portfolio after complaints from Grenfell survivors
Rushanara Ali has given up the Building Safety Portfolio after Grenfell survivors complained about her appointment.
The complaint stems from her attendance to a conference sponsored by a firm held by many to be responsible for the Grenfell blaze.
“I understand perception matters,” says Rushanara Ali
Grenfell United, the organisation that supports survivors of the Grenfell tower blaze as well as bereaved family members from victims of the fire, demanded that Ali be removed; the reason for the demand being her regular attendance to the Franco-British Colloque.
The Franco-British Colloque is an annual policy forum that was co-chaired by the former chairman of Saint-Gobain, a French manufacturing firm. The manufacturing firm was, until recently, the majority owner of Celotex.
Celotex is a firm that manufactured the flammable insulation used behind the panels at Grenfell.
Saint-Gobain and Celotex have been widely criticised, and the Grenfell Phase 2 report criticised the firms for selling the insulation as a “fire safe” product both deliberately and dishonestly.
The brief was willingly given up
The complaint implies that Rushanara Ali is somewhat complicit in the Grenfell blaze due to her attendance at these sponsored events.
Despite disputing this, she has also given up the brief willingly to keep positive relations between the Government and Grenfell United.
Ms Ali said in a statement: “Trusted relationships between ministers and the Grenfell community are essential for this department.
“Before I became a minister, I called for the French delegation of the Franco-British Colloque to cut ties with Saint Gobain.
“But I understand that perception matters and I have therefore concluded that the building safety portfolio would be best transferred to another minister.
“Our goals of making buildings safe and preventing another tragedy continue to be very important issues for me, and the deputy prime minister and the rest of the ministerial team have my full support in delivering on this work.”
