“Eight and a half years after Grenfell, we still have no criminal justice and a million people still living in unsafe buildings,” Labour MP Joe Powell has warned.
Speaking at the 2025 Labour party conference on a LabourList panel held in partnership with the Fire Brigades Union, Powell, the MP for Kensington and Bayswater, called the situation a “catastrophic failure of the state to deliver justice.”
His comments came amid fears from campaigners that the Labour Party’s approach to housebuilding risks repeating the failures of the past.
Giles Grover from End our Cladding Scandal described housing minister Steve Reed’s enthusiastic adaptation of “build baby build” as “cringeworthy.” He said: “That is landing so poorly with hundreds of thousands of people who are waiting for their homes to be made safe.”
He sharply criticised what he saw as a return to “talk about deregulation” and a focus on the “interests of business.” Grover warned that the building safety regulator was being weaponised, adding: “I’m seeing history repeat itself right now.”
The panellists emphasised that the government’s house building targets must not come at the expense of safety.
Powell said: “My priority is to make this building safety regulator work, because the risk, as others have outlined, is that we create what I think is a false choice between building safety and building the 1.5 million homes.”
Subscribe here to our daily newsletter roundup of Labour news, analysis and comment– and follow us on Bluesky, WhatsApp, X and Facebook.
-
- SHARE: If you have anything to share that we should be looking into or publishing about this story – or any other topic involving Labour– contact us (strictly anonymously if you wish) at [email protected].
- SUBSCRIBE: Sign up to LabourList’s morning email here for the best briefing on everything Labour, every weekday morning.
- DONATE: If you value our work, please chip in a few pounds a week and become one of our supporters, helping sustain and expand our coverage.
- PARTNER: If you or your organisation might be interested in partnering with us on sponsored events or projects, email [email protected].
- ADVERTISE: If your organisation would like to advertise or run sponsored pieces on LabourList‘s daily newsletter or website, contact our exclusive ad partners Total Politics at [email protected].
More from LabourList
Starmer signals tougher stance on interpreting human rights law
Health Secretary Wes Streeting’s address to Labour Party conference in full
Shabana Mahmood elected chair of Labour’s National Executive Committee