Can politicians learn the toughest lessons of the Grenfell fire?

Jeremy Corbyn chose to focus his questions to the Prime Minister today on the government’s response to the Grenfell Tower fire. It was the second anniversary last week of that fire, and campaigners have accused the government of not keeping its promises to the survivors of that disaster. The Labour leader asked about the slow progress in removing the same cladding from other buildings that was on the Grenfell Tower, and then moved on to a recommendation made years before the fire that tower blocks should have sprinklers fitted.

That recommendation followed the fire at Lakanal House in 2009 in which six people died. The coroner at that inquest had recommended that sprinklers be fitted to all high-rise buildings. This wasn’t the only inquest after a fire that highlighted problems with tower blocks: after two firefighters were killed in a blaze in Southampton, a coroner issued a rule 43 report, which is supposed to make something examined at an inquest a ‘never again’ event.