Calls to ban Grenfell firms from contracts

Companies criticised by the Grenfell Tower inquiry are facing calls to be banned from public contracts after it emerged that about £250m in deals have been made with corporations involved in the high rise's refurbishment in the past five years.

- Robert Booth

A leading member of Grenfell United, which represents bereaved family members and survivors of the 2017 fire, said firms found to have been to blame should no longer receive public contracts.

Searches of public contracts for the Guardian by the outsourcing data firm Tussell found multiple deals between councils, health authorities and housing associations, and the companies that were involved in the disastrous refurbishment as well as their subsidiaries.

They include companies currently or formerly owned by Saint Gobain, which made the combustible Celotex brand insulation used on the tower, and Rydon, the main contractor for the works. Speaking before tomorrow's publication of the final public inquiry report into causes of the 2017 fire, Karim Mussilhy of Grenfell United said: "If we see that these companies behaved fraudulently and manipulated the system, it's not unreasonable to remove them from any public contracts and frameworks in the UK."

Mussilhy's uncle, Hesham Rahman, 57, was among 15 disabled residents who died in the fire. He was allocated a 23rd-floor flat but couldn't use the stairs and no fire crews were able to reach him.

Joe Powell, the Labour MP for Kensington and Bayswater, which includes Grenfell Tower, also said that if he were in the government's position he would suspend the ability of Rydon and Saint Gobain to bid for public contracts "until they are able to properly account for what went wrong, and that includes properly contributing financially to solving the building safety crisis".