CIH CONFERENCE The Grenfell Tower backlash is about politics and ideology, according to Labour’s shadow housing minister John Healey.
Speaking at the CIH Conference, he said: “This is precisely about politics. It’s about ideology and policy. It’s about the policy and political decisions made by those in power that the residents of Grenfell want tackled.”
Healey said Labour had made the commitment to help everyone who needs help and housing until they had moved on, bring those culpable to account, and make these changes to guarantee it will never happen again.
“It must surely shock the country into a change in policy, ideology and in government,” he said.
“When a country as well off and decent as ours fails in something as basic in providing a safe, decent home for our citizens, things must change. When it happens in one of the richest parts of our country, it offends our sense that we live together in one country.”
When asked about John McDonnell’s comment saying the victims of the Grenfell Tower were murdered, Healey said: “I think that was rally rhetoric probably. I would not use the word murder. In these circumstances, we cannot point directly to cause and effect. What he was trying to do was capture the real anger and disbelief that not just the community around Grenfell felt, but some of the fear and mistrust that many and other communities may feel at present.”
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