There have been too many instances justifying the cynic's view. Post Office closures*, student loans and the creeping privatisation of the NHS begun under one party continued on what should have been a change of approach under another. The Grenfell Inquiry, as reported in the current Private Eye, revealed another.
The stage had been set by the slew of deregulation by the Thatcher/Major governments and continued by Blair/Brown. In particular, fire safety assessments at the planning stage were abolished. The Building Research Establishment (BRE) had been privatised, another decision which was not reversed by New Labour. However, the latter was awarded a contract to test various cladding materials as a result of a 1999 Select Committee recommendation. It designed a test for 14 cladding systems, including the ACM used at Grenfell. At the time, ACM had
a fire rating of "Class 0", meaning it complied with guidance at the time. However, when ACM was subjected to a large-scale test on 18 July 2001, the results were catastrophic. Flames leapt 20 metres - double the height of the testing rig - in just five minutes. The test was halted to protect the safety of those present.
Results of the test were delivered to the [Blair] government in September 2002. Dr Debbie Smith, former managing director of the BRE, agreed at the inquiry that this should have left the government "in no doubt at all" that the material should "never ever" be used on tall buildings.
But the government did not act.
Neither did the coalition, in spite of the Lakanal House fire which occurred less than a year before it came to power.*Though there was a brief halt to these when Liberal Democrat ministers controlled the relevant Department under the coalition.
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