Grenfell Tower victims may BOYCOTT inquiry unless probe is widened to look into ‘systemic issues’ surrounding deadly blaze

SURVIVORS of the Grenfell Tower disaster are threatening to boycott the inquiry into the tragedy if the proposed scope is not widened.

Sir Martin Moore-Bick, who will lead the probe, had previously said he was "doubtful" the investigation would be far-reaching enough to satisfy those who survived the devastating fire.

The inquiry is set to examine the events of June 14 - such as how the fire started and how it developed so rapidly.

However Yvette Williams, one of the organisers of the Justice 4 Grenfell campaign group, said Grenfell survivors and victims' families are "very, very angry" and want the "systemic issues" surrounding the fire to be looked at as part of the inquiry.

It comes as...

• The Government said it will keep a "close eye" on Kensington and Chelsea Council as pressure builds for the troubled authority to be taken over by commissioners.
• One Grenfell Tower resident claims she had her rent deduced from her bank account after the disaster.

Miss Williams told Sky News: "They cannot just look at 14 June, when that building became an inferno.

"They can't do that.

"If we don't get good terms of reference for the public inquiry and we don't get a wide remit so that those people can take responsibility for what they've done, then we won't participate in it."

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has written to Prime Minister Theresa May, urging her to widen the scope of the public inquiry.

He has asked for a two-part inquiry, the first looking at specific issues around the fire in at the 24-storey building in Kensington, west London, and reporting back soon, with an additional second part "looking at the national issues".

Communities secretary Sajid Javid said it was "right" that council leader Nicholas Paget-Brown resigned following intense criticism of how the Grenfell Tower tragedy was handled.

Mr Javid said: "It is right the council leader stepped down given the initial response to the Grenfell tragedy.

"The process to select his successor will be independent of government, but we will be keeping a close eye on the situation. If we need to take further action, we won't hesitate to do so."

Outgoing leader Nicholas Paget-Brown said he had to share responsibility for "perceived failings", departing alongside deputy Rock Feilding-Mellen.

The council has now been hit by three high-profile resignations in the aftermath of the fire, with chief executive Nicholas Holgate also exiting.

The authority came under fire for its slow response to the disaster, in which at least 80 people are thought to have died.

The Labour Party launched a drive for the council to relinquish its handling of affairs until the crisis was brought under control, with a string of party figures weighing in.

London mayor Sadiq Khan, who welcomed the resignation, said the Government had "no option" but to appoint "untainted" commissioners who had "a genuine empathy for local people and the situation they face" to take over running the authority.

He said: "The council now needs to find a way to move forward and find a way to restore the confidence in that community.

"That can only be done with new leadership and a new approach that reaches out to residents who quite rightly feel desperately neglected.

"I ... feel the response from the council and subsequent breakdown in trust is so severe that there is now no alternative and the Government needs to step in quickly."

Commissioners were brought in to run Tower Hamlets Council in 2014 after a critical independent report into the council's award of grants and sale of properties under former mayor Lutfur Rahman.

Shadow housing secretary John Healey said the move would amount to "specific, immediate, obvious and necessary action", while shadow communities secretary Andrew Gwynne added the powers should be used to "get a grip on what has gone dreadfully wrong".

In his resignation statement, Mr Paget-Brown acknowledged the council had been criticised for "failing to answer all the questions that people have" but that the scale of the tragedy "was always going to mean that one borough alone would never have sufficient resources to respond to all the needs of the survivors and those made homeless, on its own".