Fit ALL council blocks with sprinklers after Grenfell fire, says Jeremy Corbyn

Labour leader calls on Chancellor to set funds aside to complete the fire-safety measure
Scores of people died in the fire - the exact death toll has not yet been fully established
Nigel Howard
Fiona Simpson9 November 2017

Sprinklers should be fitted to all council and housing association high-rise blocks in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy and the Chancellor should set aside money to pay for the measure, Jeremy Corbyn said.

The Labour leader is launching a campaign in an attempt to force Philip Hammond to use his Budget to announce £1 billion of funding to retrofit sprinklers in residential blocks.

Mr Corbyn will also hit out at Government cuts to fire services and the "dangerously neglected" state of social housing.

Ahead of a major speech, Mr Corbyn said: "Five months on from the Grenfell Tower fire, still only 2% of tower blocks have sprinklers and councils claim they have been denied funding for these vital measures.

Labour is calling on the Chancellor to use the Budget to retrofit sprinklers in council tower blocks
AP

"The Government is failing to learn the lessons from this tragedy. I urge the Chancellor to use the Budget to urgently provide the funds needed to retrofit sprinklers, ensuring people in thousands of tower blocks across our country are living in safety and with peace of mind.

"The Grenfell Tower fire was an entirely avoidable human disaster that must not be repeated."

Labour is calling on the Chancellor to use the Budget on November 22 to fund the retrofitting of sprinklers in all council and housing association tower blocks, starting with buildings that are 30 metres - 10 storeys - or higher.

Mr Corbyn said: The Grenfell Tower fire was an entirely avoidable human disaster that must not be repeated
Paul Hackett/Reuters

Mr Corbyn will use his speech in London to hit out at the "staggering" cuts to fire services.

He will say: "Firefighters across the country have faced the harsh reality of politically driven austerity. Along with the other emergency services across the country they have been forced to deal with repeated budget cuts since 2010.

"In the last seven years, 10,000 frontline firefighter jobs have gone - equivalent to one in six positions."

He will add: "Because of the continual loss of firefighters' jobs, if the fire at Grenfell had occurred outside of London, there would not have been enough firefighters in the vicinity to tackle a blaze of that size."

Following the Paradise Papers revelations, Mr Corbyn will also step up his calls for action to tackle tax avoidance.

"While people are living in potential death-trap homes without essential safety protections such as sprinklers, it is an obscenity that we have super-rich elites and major corporations who are allowed to avoid paying their taxes," he will say.

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