Grenfell Tower victims murdered by political decisions – John McDonnell

Those who died in the Grenfell Tower blaze were “murdered” by “political decisions”, John McDonnell has said.

The shadow chancellor has blamed the notion to “view housing as only for financial speculation” as responsible for the deaths in west London.

“Is democracy working? It didn’t work if you were a family living on the 20th floor of Grenfell Tower.”

“Those families, those individuals – 79 so far and there will be more – were murdered by political decisions that were taken over recent decades.”

McDonnell, an MP for the London constituency of Hayes and Harlington, was speaking in a panel debate at Glastonbury’s Left Field event, chaired by The Guardian’s John Harris.

“The decision not to build homes and to view housing as only for financial speculation rather than for meeting a basic human need made by politicians over decades murdered those families.”

“The decision to close fire stations and to cut 10,000 fire fighters and then to freeze their pay for over a decade contributed to those deaths inevitably, and they were political decisions.”