earlier i spoke tojoe delaney, a local resident and campaigner with the grenfell action group. experience will allow him to determine what happened. if you look at the work the grenfell action group have done over the last five years, they have proven incompetent at being able to dig through contracts and find things that were safe and unsafe and their wishes were ignored. while i can see this as a small part of the enquiry, we think the wider remit of the enquiry needs to be led with somebody —— by somebody with a more criminal mind who can dig down into the facts and get to the bottom of the facts and get to the bottom of the shoe is far quicker. contract dispute isn't going to answer why so many people died and so many were evacuated. a criminal angle on this enquiry may be able to do that. obviously everybody wants answers as quickly as they can. do you think that residents are prepared to accept the appointment of sir martin and give him the opportunity to prove his worth, if you feel that's what he needs to do? well, it does look to us that there is more and more an attemp

the grenfell action group have warned, and i quote, it is a truly terrifying thought, but the grenfelltastrophic event will expose the ineptitude and incompetence of our landlord, the kensington and chelsea tenant management organisation. the local mp said she spoke on behalf of a traumatised and frightened community with little trust in authority. she called for cuts in fire services to be reversed. "these people have quite literally our lives in their hands." in short, where is the funding? when brand—new properties are empty for many years, does the prime minister think it is right to discuss with her honourable friend the chancellor of the exchequer changing the taxation regime so that as in new york city, these people face punitive taxation? my wife, principally, and i, mentored, employed and encouraged a young woman called khadija saye, who lost her life with her mother on the 20th floor of grenfell tower. she has talked about the public enquiry. but she understands that most people see this as a crime, and they know that rich and powerful organisations get away with crime. the r

. >> the grenfell action group wrote it is a terrifying thought and the grenfell tower group believesnly a serious event will expose our landlords. correspondent: i think country looks for answers, local people who mobilized to help the survivors who lost to their homes. and british pop artists has joined the effort, releasing a version of the simon and garfunkel tune " bridge over troubled waters" to raise money for the victims. ♪ ♪ ♪ brent: we are going to have more on those troubling building results across england coming up later in the day. you're watching dw news. still to come, senate republicans unveil their new health care bill. that and more in 60 seconds. brent: welcome back. you are with dw news live from berlin. british prime minister theresa may has for the first time given a guarantee that eu citizens living in britain will be able to study. until now, they had refused to give such a pledge, saying any agreement would be part of formal brexit negotiations. the word is out, u.s. president donald trump has said that he did not record conversations with former fbi director

the grenfell tower action group have been drawing attention to what they call dangerous living conditionsandlords and of our suggestions from them, only allegations, allegations that a majorfire at this allegations, allegations that a major fire at this block was averted in 2013 when some residents they say experienced power surges allegedly caused by faulty wiring. one of our eyewitnesses was speaking about a similarfire that had eyewitnesses was speaking about a similar fire that had taken place eyewitnesses was speaking about a similarfire that had taken place in that building and we have another person who called as he was not in that block but they were at a similar block nearby. they have been confirmed. since they had a major tower block fire in london, concerned about their own safety. what seems to be also coming through from a number of people was the problem of the lifts being not very well maintained. in a fire, you wouldn't be using the lifts anyway. the stairwells have been completely taken over the stairwells have been completely ta ken over by the stairwells have been comp

in a startlingly blog post on the grenfell action group's website, members write -- "it is a truly terrifyinghought but the grenfell action group firmly believe that only a catastrophic event will expose the ineptitude and incompetence of our landlord, the kctmo, and bring an end to the dangerous living conditions and neglect of health and safety legislation that they inflict upon their tenants and leaseholders." this is what bloomberg reports that theresa may's immigration minister brandon lewis was formerly the housing minister in a position he declined to require developers to install sprinklers. >> well, look. this isn't new to us. inther area south of london, 2009, caught fire and we had six fatalites there. the expert corner on that case, her recommendationsns were that sprinklers become mandatory, part of health and safety -- fire safety regulations for high-rise buildings. note recommendations were enacted and they were left as optional elements. in ourion-wise, it says fire and safety regulations that as long as they meet the overall requirements, the developers are fine. that is wha

we have been contacted today by a group calling themselves the grenfell action group, a group from theany times over recent yea rs have complained many times over recent years about fire risk in the building itself. of course those kinds of things will come out in the enquiry which will undoubtedly happen but the big challenge remained several hours after this fire started to put out the fire itself. back to you. well, it is the smell that really hits you when you first arrive here and also just everywhere around, up to a quarter ofa mile everywhere around, up to a quarter of a mile away, there are charged bits of what must be the cladding that has loan at the building during the fire overnight. throughout the streets, big groups of people are gathering, handing out water to anyone who wants one. also handing out food, i met an eyewitness who had come here with armfuls of clothes, going to all of the centres that have opened up. she said so many people have given so much already that a lot of these centres we re already that a lot of these centres were literally turning people away. lo

a resident association called the grenfell action group has been in touch with us. hey're a group of residents from the block of flats who over in recent years have repeatedly complained, have repeatedly made clear their anger at what they say was the real danger from fire within the building itself. they say a lack of sprinklers, a lack of fire alarms, but also great concern about the types of material used in the building and the refurbishment of this tower block. also perhaps in other buildings around here. for example, there is a community college behind me called the north kensington academy. that was also apparently refurbished around the same time. that's closed because it is within the exclusion zone and there were children there meant to be sitting gcse exams, but there will be concerns about other buildings that maybe used the same building materials, used the same refurbishment materials that were used in the tower block itself. so now we're coming to the end of the first stage which is the containment and the extinguishing the fire itself and very sadly,

the grenfell action group predict that it won't be long before the words of this blog come back to haunt they haven't been warned. they were warned several times. countless times. they were before before the regeneration. they were warned during the regeneration. they were warned after the regeneration. they were warned probably until the day before the fire and what did they do about it? they did nothing. they were ignored, sir, weren't they? they said there would be a catastrophe and there was. sadly, there has been acatastrophe, i don't think anybody can deny there's been a catastrophe, but what's concerning me and the council at this stage is first of all why the fire started and secondly why it spread so quickly. that rapid spread meant firefighters were walking into a multi—storey inferno — a situation they had never seen before. that's a real block. 0h, bleep. jesus. how's that possible? it's jumped up along the flats. bleep. that was housing. i've never heard of an incident where people are actually discussing the possibility that people might not come out. despite that, large nu

joe delaney, a local resident and campaigner with the grenfell action group. keep her home but they were not willing to spend that to make sure ours to not burn down. joe, you said you were in a meeting with the formerjudge who has been appointed to lead this public inquiry. you we re to lead this public inquiry. you were explaining that a lot of people are concerned that his experience is mainly around areas of commercial law and you think it should be someone law and you think it should be someone with a background in criminal law. the point has been raised by a number of people that it is that commercial experience that will allow him to dig down into the details of cladding, contracts and so on, to try to determine what went on with grenfell, do you accept that at all? to a certain extent. but if you look at the work that the g re nfell you look at the work that the grenfell action group have done in the last five years, they have proven quite competent in digging through contracts and finding things that were safe and unsafe. where their wishes were ignor

and there have been concerns expressed by the grenfell action group, community action group, their concerns about the refurbishment and the emergency provisions within the building were not being listened to. they said in a blog everything they put forward to the management group fell on deaf ears. they warned that it would take something catastrophic as this to get people to take notice. it is too late now, but there will be lessons not only for these high-rise blocks into his everybody around the country, because a lot of people been pointing to the rain proof plotting to make the apartment look more modern. it may well be that they have acted like a flue, funneling the fire of the face of the building. it is too early to draw that conclusion, but that would be one explanation for why the fire spread so quickly. plenty of questions and plenty of lessons to learn and plenty of blame being apportioned in west london tonight. jane: christian fraser with the very latest in london, thank you for joining us. now to our other major story. republican congressman steve scalise is in critical condi

people in the local area, the grenfell tower action group, they we re grenfell tower action group, theyssue is a consultation says what they should think should happen, or pen it to the public for input, and then the conclusions the reach at the same as what they proposed in the first place. that needs to change. that needs to be part of an inquiry? yes, it does. it is about resident engagement. we warned this would happen we were told we were scaremongering. none of the residents of the building wanted the cladding. the main concern seemed to be to make the building more beautiful rather than to make any substantial changes to its structure. in terms of the inquiry, some of what residents appear to wa nt some of what residents appear to want some martin to cover will be dealt with by the criminal investigation, and necessarily to ensure that isn't prejudice and in his sister away from that.” ensure that isn't prejudice and in his sister away from that. i do not think it does. we had an inquiry into the london riots at the same time as people were locked up for writing. there are lots o

"it is a truly terrifying thought, but the grenfell action group firmly believes that only a catastrophicur landlord, the kctmo. the kensington & chelsea tenant management 0rganisation, and bring an end to the dangerous living conditions and neglect of health and safety legislation that they inflict upon their tenants and leaseholders." it was posted last november. we repeatedly reported concerns to the tenant management organisation of the royal borough of kensington & chelsea, including fire safety concerns which were not investigated during the regeneration works. they included concerns about this advice to residents to stay put inside a flat if there was a fire outside. there were also reports of faulty safety equipment, power surges and inadequate fire alarms. the tower is owned by the council, but in the i990s the tenants management 0rganisation took over. professional managers joined by a board of tenants and councillors, including judith blakeman, she says she repeatedly argued on behalf of worried residents. they just kept saying, "we are very concerned about it. we've not been p

this is pilgrim tucker of the grenfell action group. >> the standard work was really, really shoddy and poor. -work sticking inches outside of the walls. there were power surges. like the building what dead and the fire, the emergency lighting did not come on. and these residents are again and again and again and they were threatened with legal action. they tried to get lawyers, but because of the legal aid cuts, they could not get lawyers. amy: the residents, who are mostly low-income, say the renovation was largely aimed at making aesthetic improvements to the exterior of the building in order to make it blend in with the spate of new luxury high-rises in the rapidly gentrifying west london neighborhood. new revelations suggest that the shiny exterior paneling installed during the renovation was highly flammable and is responsible for accelerating the fire. this is one of the building's residents. >> 10 million pounds they're talking about cu, and they put these shoddy -- amy: british prime minister theresa may has ordered a full public investigation into the fire. the russian militar

specific issues that have been raised by the g re nfell tower that have been raised by the grenfell tower action groupe tenant management organisation and answers have been given. you do not know how they were looked at and what steps we re they were looked at and what steps were taken? you do not know what happened? at the moment i cannot say more. the entire effort of this council has been dedicated towards trying to help the people who have found themselves in this horrific situation. we have not been trailing back looking backwards. we are trying to deal with what is happening now. these are important questions. we understand the anger. let me put it to you, i. going to let me put it to you, i am going to ask you to look back, these are important questions local people wa nt a nswe rs important questions local people wa nt a nswers to. important questions local people want answers to. there was a multi—million pound refurbishment of the tower block behind me which was completed last year, a sprinkler system was not part of a multi—million pound refurbishment, which many people think was an oversig

this is a blog post from november 2016 written by the grenfell action group and it raises specific spiree landlord of the tower, the same management organisation i mentioned a little while ago, and it signs off by saying the action group predicts it won't be long before the words of this post come back to haunt the management. here is a former member of that group speaking earlier. so many concerns, concerns about the locations of heat interface units. concerns about escaping and getting in and out. concerns about lighting. i have heard the fire alarms did not go off in the building. to tell you, i wasn't surprised. shocked, terrified, all the people living here, but not surprised. this is fire action advise in grenfell tower. it is posted all over the building. it tells residents there isa building. it tells residents there is a state put policy unless the fire is in or affecting your flat. if there is a fire within the tower, u nless if there is a fire within the tower, unless it is immediately affecting your situation, stayed put. it is a policy applied to many tower blocks in the uk

grenfell action group have an online blog and have told us they have complained several times in recentscribe as a considerable fire risk. eyewitness accounts tell us there were no fire alarms when it started. there were deeper concerns from residents about the kinds of building materials used in the construction and refurbishment of the building. those will come out at a later date but for now it is about getting things back to normal as far as possible. that will be a difficultjob. a local school's pupils were meant to be taking their gcse exams today. but they couldn't access it. it will be some time before people are allowed access to the vicinity. the fire will have to be put out and the area declared safe. up to 600 people may have been inside grenfell tower when the blaze broke out. there are no clear numbers at the moment for those who are still inside the building or those who have been evacuated. 0ur correspondent tom burridge is there. people have been describing the screams of children trapped inside the building, people jumping screams of children trapped inside the buildin

people in the local area, the grenfell action group that i was involved with, and other residents indents in the area, were complaining about the proposed regeneration and rebuilding in ourarea since proposed regeneration and rebuilding in our area since 2011, 2012. it seems any council which issues the consultation will issue what they believe should happen. then they open it to the public, supposedly for our input. then at the end of it, the conclusions they reach are affecting what they proposed in the first place. i think that sort of thing needs to change. and that needs to be part of an enquiry? yes, it does. it absolutely does. it is about resident engagement. we warned that this would happen and we were accused of scaremongering. we did not want cladding on the tower block. none of the residents wanted cladding and yet the main concerns seem cladding and yet the main concerns seem to be to beautify the building, rather than make any substantial changes to its structure. in terms of the enquiry then, some of what the residents appear to want sir martin to cover, would surely b

grenfell tower. that is according to a blog on the grand fell action group website.positive views of the regeneration. this is from the architects website to deliver the regeneration of the g re nfell tower deliver the regeneration of the grenfell tower and this is what they say. grenfell tower is a 2a— story residential regeneration project, power —— the tower is part of lancaster power —— the tower is part of la ncaster west power —— the tower is part of lancaster west estate from the 19705. lancaster west estate from the 1970s. new windows, new installation, new cladding and a complex upgrade to the heating system and there are questions that many people are asking. we can't link the two because we have absolutely no idea what the fire. these other sports, this is conjecture that the questions people have been asking is how it was possible that the concrete building was able to catch fire so significantly quickly so, for example, you've been reporting, and you think this is an accurate time, the fire starting around 12:5a a.m.. we began rolling news at about 1:30a

the concerns you are referring to come from the grenfell action group who wrote a blob post in novembere would be some kind of catastrophe and stating, i think it will take a loss of life for people to take our concerns seriously. absolutely. they warned about the instructions residents had been given about what to do ina residents had been given about what to do in a fire, about some of the safety features around the building especially given there had been a lot of building work around there and the residents felt their safety had not been taken seriously in light of the fact we had had a fire in the borough, and in 2013 there had been a massive power surge which had been a massive power surge which had concern a lot of residents. i think that worries us as local residents about the extent to which the borough is taking seriously the safety of council tenants. this is a council owned block but it is run by an management agency. let me ask you what you first heard and saw, what you could smell in the early hours this morning? i heard the helicopter circulating and i went and got into m

the grenfell action group had warned, and i quote, it is a truly terrifying thought that the grenfellhelsea tenant management organisation. the prime minister said it is right that the ceo of kensington and chelsea council has now resigned. it may be, but why aren't the political leaders of kensington and chelsea taking responsibility as well for this whole dreadful event? is the speaker, from hillsborough to the child sex abuse scandal the grenfell tower, the pattern is consistent. working class people's voices are ignored, their concerns dismissed by those in power. the grenfell tower residents and north kensington community deserve answers, and thousands and thousands of people living in tower blocks around the country need very urgent reassurance. 0ur very brave firefighters must reassurance. our very brave firefighters must never have to deal with such horrific incident again. and the prime minister is right when she talks about the bravery of firefighters running into a burning building. i have spoken to firefighters on many occasions. but they are overstretched and they are tra

we have been working closely with the grenfell action group who have helped us tremendously in our oppositionngton. they consider us the little people who don't matter. this has been a terrible, avoidable tragedy. i was just with jeremy corbyn when terrible, avoidable tragedy. i was just withjeremy corbyn when he was saying he wanted to see accountability. that is what the people here feel. we still don't quite know who we will be grieving for, it will be a long drawn—out process for that. but there is also simmering anger here because this did not have to happen. the council have first of all, there are huge issues about the design of the building. about the cost, whether they picked the right materials and even since the tragedy, their performance has been at this mill. there was no one here with clipboards and walkie—talkies to coordinate the survivals. there were a perishable goods rotting in their community centres because the council cannot organise anyone to decide where the goal. at the third recount on friday night, to save their majority at the town hall, they could find 200 people

this is pilgrim m tucker of the grenfell a action group. >> the standard work was s ally, really shoddy and poor. -work sticking i inches outsidef the walls. there wewere power sururges. like the bubuildingng what deadd the fire, the emergency lightitg did not cocome on. and these resididents are again and agaiain and a again andndhey were thrhreatened with h legal action. they trieded to get lawyers, but becacause of the legegal aid cu, they could not get lawyers. amy: the residents, who o are mostlyly low-income, s say the renovationon was largely aimed t making aesthetic improvements to the exterior of the building in order to make it blend in with the spate of new luxury high-rises in the rapidly gentrifying west london neighborhood. new revelations suggest that the shiny exterior paneling installed during the renovation was highly flammable and is responsiblble for acceceleratine fire. ththis is one ofof the buildin's resisidents. >> 10 million poununds they're talking abouout cu, and they put these shoddy -- amamy: british prime minister thereresa may has orordered a fl public inv

meanwhile residents in the grenfell action group warned of dangerous living conditions.ompetence of their landlord. we can speak with our reporter, jim reed, looking into some of the questions that need answering. 0f course, the first, how could this happen? exactly, investigators are going to spend months, if not longer, looking into the causes of the fire. at this early stage, people are looking at the speed at which the fire spread, simply should not happen in a modern tower block, even one which has been refurbished, should not catch fire and should not spread that quickly, that is what experts tell us. yesterday one of the original with the original architect spoke with us. in 1974, he worked on it in the late 1960s, even he described it as incomprehensible that it burned so quickly, we built a concrete building and simply quickly, we built a concrete building and - simply does building and concrete simply does not burn like that. what went wrong? it is not yet confirmed, a lot of talk about the cladding that went on the outside of the building. fixed on about one y

30 years where council housing is disinvested and council tenants are not listened to, the grenfell action groupve been subcontracted out and the council is then able to total crisis abdicate responsibility for council te na nts abdicate responsibility for council tenants and it seems that has continued post the disaster in the rev lef effort. whether this cladding was legal or not to be used in that way in this country, that block went up in flames in a way that simply shouldn't have happened. is it possible to make all tower blocks completely the safe places that we would have expected and hoped that they are? well, these tower blocks, this one in particular was tower blocks, this one in particular was built under the old london building act and it complied, it would never have behaved like this. we have never have had a disast near section 20 building. it is the changes in regulations that have led to this and the old ones worked. the old ones came out of years and years after the great fire of london. we built them up. the reason london survived the blitz without turning into a huge fireball

we can talk to someone from a justice for g re nfell to someone from a justice for grenfell action groupng that diane abbott posted yesterday at the house of commons. what happened at that meeting? and the survivors were there. well, the survivors told her the reality of their experience, as opposed to what their experience, as opposed to what the government has been saying has been going on. for example, diane abbott told the meeting of survivors and other people concerned that they had been told by the prime minister that everyone had been allocated a social worker. so she asked the people in the room to put their hands up if they had been allocated social worker and justjew hands up if they had been allocated social worker and just jew people put their hands up. we heard another story about one of the survivors, a teenage child, who tried to kill herself and was admitted to hospital yesterday, having ta ken herself and was admitted to hospital yesterday, having taken an overdose of ta blets. yesterday, having taken an overdose of tablets. we heard about survivors being put in hotel ro

residents had raised safety concerns back in november last year, this is a blog post from the grenfell tower action groupmany concerns, locations of heating interface units, concerns about escape and getting in and out and lighting and i heard the firearms did not go off in the building. i was not surprised. i was not surprised, shocked, terrified at the people living here but not surprised. and these signs were posted all over the tower, the signs advise residents, there is a staple policy residents unless the fire is in or affecting your flat. in other words, you are not directly impacted, stay put. this is a policy that applies to lots of these types of tower blocks in the uk since the 19505, of tower blocks in the uk since the 1950s, based on the assumption which we had a moment ago that when a fire sta rts we had a moment ago that when a fire starts it can be contained in one pa rt starts it can be contained in one part of the building. evidently in this case tragically that did not happen. the role of this kind of advice in the amount of loss of life we have seen will be one many policies and decis

grenfell survivors are being asked to work with the establishment they feel let them down for decades. the aim is for an interim report this summer. let's speak to sue caro from the action groupshe's in our central london studio. cani can ijust can i just say that my can ijust say that my name is actually pronounced karl rove. excuse me for wishing to correct it. i'm a representative of the campaign justice for grenfell, we were set up to create a secretary at all survivors when they have recovered from that terrible traumatic experience that they can step in and ta ke experience that they can step in and take over leading this organisation. having said that, we are constantly in contact with all the different groups working on the ground, we we re groups working on the ground, we were at a meeting last night with representatives from the community of survivors. we are hearing the assurances from the prime minister may directly in person to the residents and the survivor she has met, one that they would be consulted about who would lead the enquiry and two, that they would have input into the terms and reference and scope of the enquiry, these are on top of all the other fail

the grenfell tower residents themselves raised concerns about the lack of fire safety in the block. the action group thought that the action group firmly believes that only a catastrophic event will expose the ineptitude and incompetence of our landlord." so not only should more had been done to prevent those tragic deaths, but the prime minister has now had to publicly apologise for her government is pitiful response for those who have lost their homes and loved ones. a tower block in flames due to poor building quality and an heroic response by the fire and rescue service who are desperately overstretched and understaffed and local government response that has left victims sleeping out for a few days and bridges as they had nowhere else to go. make no mistake, this is the brutal reality of austerity economics that has failed on its own terms and leads to falling living standards and inequality and disasters. amidst all the recriminations, local groups are still working hard to support those caught up in the fire, especially vulnerable children. one boxing club was based in the tower and it has hel

the grenfell tower residents themselves had raised concerns about the lack of fire safety in the block. the gradual action groupquote, it is a truly terrifying thought but the granville action group firmly believes that only a catastrophic event will expose the ineptitude and incompetence of the landlord, the kensington and chelsea tenant management organisation. the prime minister said it is right that the ceo of kensington and chelsea council has now resigned. it may be. why are the political leaders of kensington and chelsea not taking responsibility for this dreadful event? from hillsborough to the child sex abuse scandal to grenfell tower, the pattern is consistent — working—class people's voices are employed and concerns dismissed by those in power. those people have died and will never come back. we have to learn those lessons to make sure this tragedy is a turning point in our whole attitude and never again will people die needlessly in again will people die needlessly in a towering inferno living in poverty surrounded by a sea of prosperity. this needs to be about parliament recognising the significanc

matt wrack, the general secretary of the fire brigades union, and pilgrim tucker from the grenfell action groupnted residents of g re nfell tower. nice to have you here. i wanted to pick up on the back of chris's piece, first with you, david. this is not to detract from what we are learning about social housing, which must be the priority but this discovery suggests there could be a much wider problem with building regulation as a whole, doesn't it? absolutely and i'm shocked by what i've heard. the committee is going to look at it very quickly. it's so frustrating that we've been asking for the building regulations to be reviewed every year and nothing at all has happened until now. i wanted to say, before i came from my office in westminster, sajid javid the communities secretary sent all mps a letter setting out in detail what he is asking local authorities and housing associations to do. i am reassured that the government has got a grip on the situation that shouldn't have happened. there is some confusion about a desktop study, the criteria. we just don't know what the law is, do we? we do

the grenfell tower action group had warned, "it isa tower action group had warned, "it is a truly terrifyingat the action but only believes that only a catastrophic event will expose the ineptitude and incompetence of our landlord, the kensington and chelsea tenant management organisation. the prime minister said it is right that the ceo of kensington and chelsea council has resigned. it may be. but why aren't the political leaders of kensington and chelsea taking responsibility, as well, for this dreadful event? from hillsborough to the child sex abuse scandal to g re nfell tower, the child sex abuse scandal to grenfell tower, the the child sex abuse scandal to gre nfell tower, the pattern the child sex abuse scandal to grenfell tower, the pattern is consistent. working class people's voices are old, and their concerns are dismissed by those in power. the g re nfell tower are dismissed by those in power. the grenfell tower residents and north kensington community deserve answers and thousands and thousands of people living in tower blocks around the country need very urgent reassurance. can