Many of those killed or made homeless by the devastating Grenfell Tower fire on 14 June were union members, and unions are now actively supporting the affected families.

The TUC has said while this is the first priority, “it is clear that we cannot see Grenfell Tower as a ‘one-off’ disaster but as something that is much more symptomatic of the society we live in and the value that it places on human life, especially the lives of the poor, the dispossessed and the vulnerable.” In an online commentary, TUC head of safety Hugh Robertson noted: “From a health and safety point of view I also feel incredible anger that so many warnings were ignored. Tower block fires have already been the subject of several inquiries after the 1999 fire in Irvine and the 2009 Camberwell fire. There have also been horrendous fires in tower blocks abroad – the best known being Melbourne and Dubai. It is not that we did not know the dangers, simply that the government did not act, and when tenants’ groups did speak up their voice was ignored.” He said the tragedy was in part testimony to “the government’s ideological obsession with deregulation.” A long succession of warnings to ministers from inquests, parliamentary groups and experts went unheeded. “There is also no doubt that the reason for government inaction was anti-regulatory zeal,” noted Robertson. “No-one in the trade union movement is going to try to make political capital out of the deaths of those victims of the fire in Grenfell Tower, however we have a duty to ensure that the safety of all our members is guaranteed as a human right. We also need to ensure that the lessons are learned from the disaster so that our fire regulations and enforcement regime are as robust and effective as possible.”