MP Steve Witherden speaks out over Grenfell Tower inquiry

Steve Witherden, who was elected as Labour MP for Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr at the election in July, said his sister-in-law was living in the tower when the shocking tragedy unfolded in June 2017. Her father, with whom she lived, was one of 72 people who died in the blaze.

Now he has welcomed the outcome of an inquiry and said its recommendations should be implemented in full - but said he has mixed feelings about the latest development.

"I would like to see the recommendations in the report implemented in full," he told the County Times.

"I would also like to see a clear timetable for implementation of each recommendation.

"I had mixed feeling, though, knowing that there are still buildings out there with this cladding, that they still exist.

"Also to think if we do see any prosecutions we will be waiting another two to three years, so the victims and survivors could have waited more than a decade."

Steve Witherden MP (Image: Parliament Live)

He praised Prime Minister Keir Starmer's response at the despatch box, saying he had said he was "responsible for building safety", and Mr Witherden said he welcomed the PM's leadership.

The west London tower block was covered in combustible products because of the “systematic dishonesty” of firms who made and sold the cladding and insulation, inquiry chairman Sir Martin Moore-Bick said.

(Image: PA Graphics)

He called out “deliberate and sustained” manipulation of fire-safety testing, misrepresentation of test data and misleading of the market, as Grenfell United said his report “speaks to a lack of competence, understanding and a fundamental failure to perform the most basic of duties of care”.

Mr Witherden told how his family had been left waiting helplessly as the tragedy unfolded, knowing through family links that his sister-in-law - his wife's step sister, from Acrefair near Wrexham - and her father were living in the building. 

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"It was the absolute terror of sitting and waiting to see that people were okay," he said.

"Even afterwards in the aftermath people were left without a home - they were in hotels and had several months before they were rehoused.

"There was the physical trauma, but you also have the emotional trauma that they had, that absolutely terrifying experience of losing their loved ones.

"A lot of the people who made it out had very close friends and family who did not, and they still carry those scars today and will for the rest of their lives."