Dewsbury MP votes 'no' to Grenfell Tower amendment bill
Dewsbury’s MP has been criticised for voting against an amendment to implement recommendations of the official Grenfell Inquiry.
MP Mark Eastwood was one of 317 Tories who voted down a ‘cynical’ Labour amendment to the fire safety bill on September 7.
The final vote in the House of Commons on September 7 was 318 against and 188 in favour, a margin of 130.
The amendment would have put into law the fire safety recommendations made during phase one of the inquiry when the final bill gained royal assent.
Mr Eastwood said: “Labour’s amendment was cynical political point-scoring.
"The fire at Grenfell was a tragedy and must never be allowed to happen again.
“The Government is putting forward legislation that allows the 1st Phase recommendations of the Grenfell Inquiry to be implemented.
“The Fire Safety Order consultation ends on October 12 and Labour’s amendment risked pre-empting the conclusion of the consultation.”
The recommendations included requiring owners or managers of flats to share information with their local fire service about the design and materials of external walls.
It also included requirements to carry out regular inspections of lifts and individual flat entrance doors with evacuation and fire safety instructions shared with residents of the building.
On Twitter the Fire Brigades Union said: “Every single Tory MP who voted against this amendment should hang their heads in shame.”
Batley and Spen Labour MP Tracy Brabin voted in favour. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer called it ‘a shameful dereliction of duty’.
The Grenfell tower block in North Kensington, London, was engulfed by fire on June 14, 2017, which spread from a fourth-floor flat across the outside of the building via flammable external cladding.
The disaster killed 72 people.