this is bbc news. the headlines at three o'clock: the leader of kensington and chelsea borough council insists the local authority is helping victims of the grenfell fire. councillor nick paget—brown said there was now "a coordinated relief effort on the ground". by by the time i got there just after 3:30am on wednesday it was clear that no one local authority in london would be able to cope with the enormous challenges facing a number of displaced residents and people affected by this. but sadiq khan says more needs to be done to help the community. they are showing a community coming together to grave but also a community angry not only at the poor response in the days afterwards from the council and government, but the years of neglect

and the council and successive governments. no queen 's speech to parliament next year to allow mps more time to scrutinise brexit negotiations. at least 62 people are killed in a forest fire in central portugal. three days of mourning have been declared. claims of growing inequality across britain — a new report says the gap between rich and poor is getting wider. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. the leader of kensington and chelsea council has told the bbc that officials are working round—the—clock since the grenfell tower fire. round—the—clock since the grenfell towerfire. residents say round—the—clock since the grenfell tower fire. residents say they have received little or no resistance

although the council has said it is committed to helping those affected. church services are being held today to remember the victims of the blaze, as simon jones reports. after the shock and the grief, today, a moment of reflection — church services to mark the lives lost and the many missing, presumed dead. that anger remains palpable. the difficulty is people are now finding out who has died and that will be enormous grief as well as enormous anger. i think you will see a whole different kind of atmosphere because people... the deaths are now real. many churches opened their doors in the hours after the tragedy, offering shelter and collecting donations, but people are asking, "why did they need to step in? where was the government, the local council? why didn't they do more?" one conservative councillor from kensington and chelsea admits things have gone badly wrong. from what i can see, we have been caught off—guard. underground, people were quick to organise themselves. it has been kind of

a disgraceful slow, limp, if i can put it like that. the prime minister accepts that in the hours after the disaster, the support for families was not good enough. now extra government staff are being drafted in to work with the council. it follows a meeting between the local people and theresa may in which they were keen to have their voices heard. things are finally moving forward and the government and the council are being proactive. i think sadly it took a long time to get them up and running and if it wasn't for other centres, none of this would have been done. we are lucky we have so many bright, important, smart people in the area. the home office is making arrangements for the family of one of those who died, mohammad alhajali, to travel from syria to the uk for his funeral. he was killed when he was separated from his brother. his life, one of many remembered today.

i think there will be a special sense of grieving, sadness, in the churches today, as people remember what has happened and people are still homeless as well, but i think also there will be a note of hope. the painstaking investigation is continuing, but the warning from police is there will be no quick answers. our correspondent has been at notting hill methodist church where services for the victims were held and he has been speaking to those attending. there is understandably a lot of anger in the local community, but my main concern is the sensitivity and the humanity of the ca re of sensitivity and the humanity of the care of the people who have survived this, how are they being cared for ina this, how are they being cared for in a sensitive way after this

unprecedented tragedy. as a former councillor yourself, probably familiar with the process than most of us are. what do you think is going on and how do you think the councillors have been dealing with this crisis? i am assured they are doing their best but there does appear to be doing their best but there does appearto bea doing their best but there does appear to be a lack of a visible presence of support on the ground from the council. what do you think needs to happen now? the families, the survivors, i am not sure where they are staying. i have heard it is ina they are staying. i have heard it is in a travel lodge, i am not sure, but that does not sound that sensitive. we need to look at immediately rehousing the families that are here. this needs to be immediate action. people have children attending the local schools, they have lost everything. the immediate action has to be with

the families, the care of the families and the people who have survived. how long have you been on the scene here? i arrived at eight o'clock on the disaster day and there has been no presence from the council and it has led me to the conclusion that the deputy leader of the council, who has responsibility for housing, and the chief executive really should be suspended. also the head of the theresa may needs to stand down because these guys have proved themselves not capable. we will hear from them shortly but in a word, what needs to be done right now? right now we need to have an inquest. we also need to learn lessons and also we need some resignations. people have to take responsibility now, the council had behaved shockingly, they did not

deliver, they still do not get it. what they have done is gone very legal, derry insurance sensitive and this disaster deserves better. some cues from kensington from our correspondent. the leader of kensington and chelsea council has been defending the way the local authority has handled the tragedy. he told me there was now an effective coordinated relief effort on the ground but he committed that was not initially the case. we were quite aware this was a huge enormity. by the time i got there just after 3:30am on wednesday, no one local authority would be able to cope with the enormous challenges that are now facing a huge number of displaced residents and people affected. we have spoken to the department for communities and local government, the prime minister, and that help has been offered, there has been a cold structure working on

the needs people have and those needs change. as time goes by, people need different kinds of support. i have been out this morning at the westway sports centre, i am told the council is neverin centre, i am told the council is never in evidence, that was not my perception. why then is it the perception. why then is it the perception of so many residents?m has been a completely traumatic week for many people and i do understand that. it does take time in any situation to get emergency lines, contact points up and running and there is a huge community sector in north kensington doing wonderful work but we need to bring that together and really to think long term about the people affected, particularly their housing needs. one of the things the prime minister is proposing is that there should be people in high visibilityjackets so people in high visibilityjackets so people could see who they are and we

see today that there were some people visibly from the local authority close to the methodist church. had you held back from doing that because of concern that your staff might become a target rather than working discreetly to try and bring things together? no. council officers have been on the side, we had three emergency services setup on wednesday morning which provided immediate support. why did people think that was not the case? possibly because officials are not identifiable. what i want is experts on the ground, people who can help traumatised residents, traumatise children, people who have lost relatives and whether they are high visibility orfrom a relatives and whether they are high visibility or from a timidity group oi’ visibility or from a timidity group or local council is immaterial. what

people need to know is council officials have been working around the clock since wednesday and i have gone on there to support the work they are doing. to say that the local authority is not present and we are not working together with other councils is inaccurate. you heard our interviews there, concerns about the role of the tenant management organisation. people understand this is effectively kensington and chelsea handing over responsibility, but obviously has residual responsibility for the welfare of its residents. do you think the tmo has behaved in the correct way and give understand calls to perhaps step aside from it? i understand the enormous concerns and anger of people about the events leading up to this fire. i shared

that anger, the council is wanting to know why that fire started, why get spread so quickly. my immediate concern is to get spread so quickly. my immediate concern is to ensure get spread so quickly. my immediate concern is to ensure the right support services for some very vulnerable people are on the ground. i have been out to check that they are, iam i have been out to check that they are, i am satisfied they are, but this is a long—term requirement. the operation of the tmo, the way council blocks are refurbished, managed, they are not questions for this afternoon, those are questions for the enquiry. this has been an awful tragedy for kensington and chelsea and its residents, but it raises a number of issues about towers and the way housing has been designed. nick paget-brown, leader of the london borough of kensington and chelsea. let's speak to the mayor of london, sadiq khan, who

joins us from the olympic park. i should ask you first perhaps to respond to what nick paget—brown was saying because you have made reference to this, to what you call the poor response of the council in the poor response of the council in the days after the terrible fire at g re nfell tower. the days after the terrible fire at grenfell tower. he says there were people on the ground, they were working very hard. do you accept that now? i spent this morning speaking to many residents, many families of the bereaved, many survivors and their experience is i million miles away from the experience of the leader of the council. it is clear to me and i have been their most days since the fire happened and spoken to many residents that there has been a vacuum. the council has failed to go to residents, to do the art reach work and is assuming that grieving families, neighbouring residents

well travelled to the westway sports centre to receive help. i have been there, there are fantastic facilities being offered there, victim support, family liaison officers, british red cross but it is not acceptable to assume that grieving families, people who are struggling to cope are able to find where they hell is that is why yesterday, at the force meeting, that the prime minister chaired, i said to the prime minister it is crucial we have staff in the community wearing high visibility tops going out to find those who need the help and i am pleased that my views were taken on board. i accept it is three days too late, in the meantime people have suffered. we have to make sure every resident, every family, every person that needs help is gone too to be offered

that help rather than assuming they will come to the council. the chancellor said that fire experts say it is not always necessary to retrofit sprinklers, what is your view on that? i look at the evidence and there was a fire in 2008 nine, there was an inquest into thousand and 13 and a prosecution against southwark council and recommendations were made to firstly make sure there are sprinklers retrofitted in those tower blocks which are at risk. secondly, to make sure the regulations reviewed in relation to the cladding and thirdly to make sure tenants and residents have the right advice, to make sure they know what to do if there is a fire. all we know so far from speaking to the survivors is it appears those lessons were not burned and those recommendations we re burned and those recommendations were not followed. it is crucial

there is a full and transparent enquiry. we need to make sure the residents have legal representation, we need to make sure the terms of reference a re we need to make sure the terms of reference are as wide as possible. we cannot wait to —— years. there needs to be an interim report published this summer and it is crucial that those that live in taiwan blocks across the country are told whether their tower block has been checked, whether it is safe, whether any changes will be made to make them safe as soon as possible. the mayor of london and the greater london authority as a whole have certain areas of responsibility, but i wonder if you have looked at the possibility of the powers you have, whether it is the fire authority in london or your authority for

allocating housing to introduce these standards yourself. to challenge the gaps that exist. to say, this is a problem that applies across london and i will do something about that.|j across london and i will do something about that. i am responsible for the fire service in london and they have been working heroically and bravely since the fire. they have been making recommendations for the government to implement and in the meantime they are undertaking checks across london. those firefighters who are still working on the scene, but others are doing checks across london to make sure local residents have that reassurance. we also will make sure that the london plan has the changes required to make sure developers cannot cut corners if thatis developers cannot cut corners if that is the case. the new blocks being built are safe but it is the older blocks, those spilled 30, 40,

50 yea rs older blocks, those spilled 30, 40, 50 years ago... therefore i ask you, given that those recommendations we re given that those recommendations were made, given successive governments have not acted on them, is it not possible for you as their of london to take the initiative on this, iam of london to take the initiative on this, i am going to try and say to all the local authorities in london, iam all the local authorities in london, i am saying to you as the mayor you have to go ahead and do this now. j now. we are doing that. we are speaking to london councils, we have been working closely with them from the day of the incident and they are doing that work. there are local authorities responsible for these housing... i understand the limits of your powers. what i am asking is if you can use the voice of london,

what the americans called the bully pulpit, to say i am going to keep this pressure up and if necessary we will take action that is not popular because local authorities do not appear to be doing it? we are using the power of persuasion is to speak to housing associations and they are responding. they need help from central government. local authorities are trying to do what they can... regulations need changing and we cannot afford to have regulations which are outdated. it said the case that the cladding currently appears to be lawful according to regulations but is not fit for purpose? is it a case that the cladding was fitted 40 —— faulty? how many blogs have had

cladding fitted properly and improperly? the government can do this. i am using pressure from city hall to make sure they do that. one of the things i am doing is pressurising them to do right by london and the rest of the country. the chancellor said the cladding is banned in europe and banned in this country and that would suggest that regulations were ignored. what is happening now is the fire service are currently checking the cladding from grenfell tower, so we are not sure if it is faulty. we need to find out whether the cladding is safe. even if the cladding passes regulatory standards, also is the cladding fitted properly? there are loads of tower blocks that have had

cladding done and we need to make sure that is safe, even if it may have passed the regulatory standards. that is what the 2013 regulations were all about but also making sure they were fitted properly. residents say there have been years and years of neglect from this council. the tmo has been woefully inadequate in responding to issues from residents. i have been speaking to residents in neighbouring states being told to return to their homes via a text even though there is no running water, no gas. another example of the incompetence of this tmo. you have read an article today in which you say you hope the worst mistakes could be systematically torn down as a result of the terrible events of

one full tower. how quickly will it be possible to do that? for three days i have been saying to the prime minister we need to know which tower blocks have been checked, which are safe to the standards we have got, which ones need further checks so we have that transparency. if it is the case that some tower blocks are a death trap we need to know which ones they are an action needs to be taken to provide housing for those communities in their same areas, investigate those tower blocks in a safe way. sadiq khan, mayor of london, thank you for being with us this lunchtime. the chancellor has been speaking about the forthcoming brexit negotiations. he's insisted the government wants a seamless brexit so the uk can leave the eu and the customs union without what he called "cliff edges". the prime minister, theresa may, has always said that no deal is better than a bad

deal with brussels. he also said he wanted to see a brexit which supports jobs and investment. when i talk about a brexit that supports britishjobs, when i talk about a brexit that supports british jobs, british investment, british business i mean a brexit that avoids cliff edges, that we ensure we segue seamlessly toa that we ensure we segue seamlessly to a new arrangement in the future that will continue to allow british goods to float notjust that will continue to allow british goods to float not just without tariffs, it is without delays and bureaucracy. it is the delay and your receipt interfering with supply chains, with the flow of fresh produce, we have to make sure our border continues to work seamlessly and that is the number one challenge for business. the shadow brexit secretary, keir starmer, says membership of the customs union should be one of the options considered by the government's negotiating team. mr starmer criticised the prime minister for leading the uk into the worst possible situation ahead of brexit talks.

i think the prime minister has got us into a complete mess. she has got no mandate here and she has no authority abroad and negotiations start tomorrow. things have to change. her approach so far has only alienated our allies in europe, it has weakened our position in the eu and got us to the worst possible starting position. earlier, i spoke to our political correspondent susan mendonca and asked her if mr hammond's comments today opens up a division within the conservative government on how to negotiate brexit. we have heard time and again theresa may talking about no deal being better than a bad deal and here we have the chancellor talking about how a no deal would be a bad outcome for britain. that is not what we hear from for britain. that is not what we hearfrom some of for britain. that is not what we hear from some of the other members of the cabinet and we also heard

philip hammond talking about how he wa nts philip hammond talking about how he wants some kind of transition structure so that you would have a slope rather than a cliff edge. others have talked about going over the cliff edge is not something to be that concerned about. differences there in the cabinet ahead of those negotiations tomorrow. we have the chancellor's reaction to that election campaign which were supposed to strengthen theresa may's position. philip hammond, he was not particularly involved in the campaign but we now find that was not the role he wanted for himself. he wanted to get involved, talk about the positives of the economy and he felt that if the economy had been the focus then perhaps the result of the election would have been different. we would never know but those brexit negotiations tomorrow, keir starmer talking about

how theresa may has put the country ina mess how theresa may has put the country in a mess and so we go into those negotiations on the back foot. a fall in the number of people who own their own home is fuelling inequality in britain, according to a new report. research from the resolution foundation think—tank suggests that 10% of adults own around half of the nation's wealth. our business correspondent, joe lynam, has more. the awful fire at grenfell tower has highlighted for many the issue of inequality in britain. dozens dead in the wealthiest borough in the uk. now an independent think tank has said inequality has worsened since the great recession because fewer people own their own homes. the resolution foundation says property ownership is now spread less evenly than salaries and incomes are. it says the richest 10% of the population own £5 trillion, or half the uk's wealth, while the top 1% own 14% of britain's wealth. by contrast, 15% of adults have no or negative wealth. wealth is arguably the biggest determinant of living standards over

people's lives but yet it barely features in today's living standards debates, and that's a big deal because our analysis shows wealth is far more unequally spread across scoiety than incomes are and because of declining property ownership, declining home ownership, for the least wealthy households that inequality has started to go up, and that's a real concern. the report is part of a wider study into a growing gap between older and younger people. the foundation says older people have accumulated wealth due to rising house prices as well having gold—plated pensions, which the young won't enjoy. the government says we want to build an economy that works for everyone. income inequality is at its lowest level since the mid—1980s and the lowest paid saw their wages grow faster than for 20 years. joe lynam, bbc news. a forest fire in central portugal is believed to have killed at least 60 people. the blaze has spread through the centre of the country, during an intense heatwave.

nearly 600 firefighters and 160 vehicles have been dispatched to tackle it. many of those who died were trapped in their cars. portugal has declared three days of mourning. our correspondent alison roberts reports. people flee as the flames move in. the fires that have spread across this mountainous part of portugal have destroyed everything in their way. dozens of fires started yesterday amid hot and dry conditions that this fire hit has claimed so many lives. translation: we were inside the house, the fire was all around us. the firefighters came to get us out because we could hardly breathe. the house must have burned for sure. 700 firefighters are battling this blaze while hundreds more is ourfighting elsewhere. 30 deaths and injuries

occurred along the same highway. officials were visibly shaken. the prime minister said it was the worst ever such tragedy in terms of lives lost. translation: the victims all died in the same fire at the same place. the criminal investigation department and forensics teams are now at work in order to try and identify the victims. several firefighters are among those injured or missing. france and spain sent aircraft to back up portugal's efforts but with temperatures expected to remain high, firefighters face another difficult day. france is voting in the second and final round of the country's parliamentary elections today. president emmanuel macron‘s party la republique en marche, which was formed just over a year ago, is predicted to win up to three—quarters of the seats in the national assembly. let's get more now from our paris correspondent hugh schofield. he said the outcome of the second

and final round of voting was fairly predictable since. . the candidate running against the macron team and said she does not expect to win. she said she does not expect to win. she said her opponent will take it and it isa said her opponent will take it and it is a shame, she said, because i am from this anywhere, but anyone that comes with a macron ticket is winning and that is what will happen. that and are very high abstention, low turnout. the opposition left and right have very low expectations of today, but what this person was saying is the worry is there will be a parliament now which will be dominated by the macron team that there will not be a souness opposition there are tall. it could mean that when macron

sta rts it could mean that when macron starts with his economic reforms, the only expression of opposition will not be in parliament but on the street with demonstrations. we will have to see, but the short answer to your question is no one expects any major change and the result will hinge on whether it is a wave in favour of macron ouray tsunami. how quickly does he plan to use this mandate to intra— juice the source of reforms you were talking about, particularly to the labour market? that is the big one, he is going to do this by decree which is controversial in its own right but he has salmond the mandate of his predecessors —— he has examined. and he has decided he will not be like them and he believes you need to act quickly to do what you have said you have got to do.