A housing minister has relinquished her building safety portfolio after attending conferences co-chaired by the chairman of the parent company of one of the insulation firms heavily criticised by the Grenfell Inquiry.
According to The Sunday Times, Grenfell survivors had called for Rushanara Ali MP to resign after her regular participation at the Franco-British Colloque, a gathering of politicians and business leaders from France and the UK.
The last meeting of the Colloque was held in January in Paris and was attended by six MPs, including Ali, according to the register of MPs’ interests.
The conference has been co-chaired in the past by Pierre-André de Chalendar, chair of St Gobain, the parent company of Celotex, which the Grenfell Inquiry’s final report said had made “false and misleading claims” about its product being suitable for Grenfell Tower.
Celotex’s RS5000 was the primary insulation product used for refurbishment of the tower. The Grenfell Inquiry said that “one very significant” reason why the residential block ended up being clad in combustible materials was the “systematic dishonesty on the part of those who made and sold the rainscreen cladding panels and insulation products”, including Celotex.
Ali will remain as minister for homelessness and rough sleeping, but will give up the building safety portfolio.
In a statement reported by the BBC, Ali said: “Trusted relationships between ministers and the Grenfell community are essential for this department.
“Before I became a minister, I called for the French delegation of the Franco-British Colloque to cut ties with Saint Gobain. But I understand that perception matters and I have therefore concluded that the building safety portfolio would be best transferred to another minister.
“Our goals of making buildings safe and preventing another tragedy continue to be very important issues for me, and the deputy prime minister and the rest of the ministerial team have my full support in delivering on this work.”
