Morning LabourList: Where’s the money for Grenfell?

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Labour activists are in a buoyant mood – the May elections are looking grim for the Tories.

The first London poll of the year released yesterday reveals the Conservative Party is on 28 per cent while Labour is way ahead on 54. A stock take shows that of the 32 London boroughs up for election, 21 are Labour-controlled and 9 are Tory-controlled. Barnet just needs tipping over the edge for Labour to gain a majority, and with a 13 per cent swing Wandsworth and Westminster are also ready to turn red. Even Bexley and Hillingdon could be up for grabs.

In other London news, #Grime4Corbyn hasn’t gone away. You may remember rappers and MCs including Akala, Jme and Novelist backing Corbyn in the run up to the June election. Many contributed to Labour’s get out the vote operation via Snapchat. AJ Tracey featured in a campaign video, shared by the party on social media channels, in which he talked about the housing crisis against a background featuring the shiny Grenfell tower. We didn’t know that just days later it would become a chilling, coal-black monument to 71 deaths.

Last night grime artist Stormzy gave a powerful performance at the Brit awards after winning British album of the year and best British male. His freestyle rap specifically called out Theresa May on her pitiful response to Grenfell. This isn’t new for Stormzy – at Glastonbury he gave tribute to the victims of the fire and urged the authorities to tell the truth; in September he called May a paigon (liar) as Corbyn presented him with a GQ award. Dangerous cladding is still fitted onto residential blocks across the country, so we need this reminder:

“What, you thought we just forgot about Grenfell? You criminals, and you’ve got the cheek to call us savages. You should do some jail time, you should pay some damages. You should burn your house down and see if you can manage this.”

@siennamarla

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