:00:00. > :00:00.and I'll be back with the late news at ten.
:00:00. > :00:00.Now on BBC1, it's time for the news where you are.
:00:07. > :00:19.Good evening, and welcome to BBC London News, I'm Sonja Jessup.
:00:20. > :00:21.It's among the many questions being asked about the Grenfell fire
:00:22. > :00:24.in North Kensington - could the Government have done more
:00:25. > :00:28.to learn from lessons from previous blazes in tower blocks?
:00:29. > :00:30.There's been criticism that warnings were ignored following the fatal
:00:31. > :00:32.fire at Lakanal House seven years ago.
:00:33. > :00:35.Today, former fire Minister Bob Neill insisted it was up to local
:00:36. > :00:45.Here's our Political Editor Tim Donovan.
:00:46. > :00:50.Inside, slow and painstaking recovery work continues, but many
:00:51. > :00:54.questions about what might have prevented this fire are now focused
:00:55. > :01:06.on what happened here at lack in all house in Southwark eight years ago.
:01:07. > :01:09.-- Lakanal House. The fire minister at the time of the inquest was
:01:10. > :01:14.challenged today on how the Government responded. The inquest
:01:15. > :01:18.reported after I left Government, but I know that my successor wrote
:01:19. > :01:23.to all social housing providers and local authorities, drawing attention
:01:24. > :01:27.to the findings, and guidance was issued in 2014 on fighting fires in
:01:28. > :01:31.high-rise buildings. Meanwhile, there have been calls from a Labour
:01:32. > :01:37.MP who lost a friend in the fire for police to act urgently so that no
:01:38. > :01:41.records can be destroyed. The police should be seizing computers,
:01:42. > :01:44.documents and ensuring that both the criminal investigation and the
:01:45. > :01:48.public enquiry can go forward with the right information. But questions
:01:49. > :01:54.over safety have quickly become part of wider criticisms about money and
:01:55. > :01:58.priorities. The council has nearly ?300 million in reserves. We have
:01:59. > :02:03.austerity across the country and some in Kensington and Chelsea. The
:02:04. > :02:08.council has been screwing money away rather than using it where it would
:02:09. > :02:12.be best used. Ministers lined up to defend the council today. It is
:02:13. > :02:14.unprecedented and harrowing. The Council did their best they could
:02:15. > :02:19.with massive support from the community. The council's service to
:02:20. > :02:25.its customers at the time of their greatest need is very much under
:02:26. > :02:28.scrutiny. People need to know that the council officials have been
:02:29. > :02:34.working around the clock since Wednesday. I am sure there are
:02:35. > :02:37.challenges and we will look at all of that, but to say that the local
:02:38. > :02:42.authority is not present and we are not working together with other
:02:43. > :02:45.councils is inaccurate. That he and the council now find themselves
:02:46. > :02:47.under immense pressure over both their actions before and after of
:02:48. > :02:51.what happened at Grenfell Tower. As you say, the council is coming
:02:52. > :03:02.for a lot of scrutiny and criticism. And ministers have gone out of their
:03:03. > :03:06.way not to criticise directly, but we know what survivors and residents
:03:07. > :03:10.are saying. Now this task force has been sent in by the Prime Minister,
:03:11. > :03:13.and a Labour MP said to me, you can guarantee that if this was a Labour
:03:14. > :03:17.authority, they would have called this a hit squad. My understanding
:03:18. > :03:23.is that for a couple of days, the response is not being managed by the
:03:24. > :03:27.chief executive of the council but others in London. There is this city
:03:28. > :03:31.Corporation chief executive, and those from Hounslow and Southwark
:03:32. > :03:36.helping, because this is now seen as a London- white issue, and make of
:03:37. > :03:40.that what you will about the confidence in how Kensington
:03:41. > :03:45.responded. In days and weeks, people may look at a sharing of services
:03:46. > :03:48.that went on between Kensington, Hammersmith and Westminster. Did
:03:49. > :03:53.that affect their front-line response? That is something for the
:03:54. > :03:57.future. The Kensington leader has defended the authority, and the
:03:58. > :03:59.Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, says he has spoken to survivors and
:04:00. > :04:01.residents and he knows who he believes.
:04:02. > :04:06.at church services - and by members of the Muslim
:04:07. > :04:08.community close to the site of Grenfell Tower.
:04:09. > :04:10.The Dean of Kensington is among local faith leaders who've been
:04:11. > :04:16.We spoke to him about how he's been supporting them -
:04:17. > :04:23.On Wednesday, there was a state of shock and real anxiety for many
:04:24. > :04:28.people trying to find loved ones, neighbours and friends. That has
:04:29. > :04:37.changed over the days that followed into grief, real horrendous grief as
:04:38. > :04:40.people have... As reality has dawned and people realise that loved ones
:04:41. > :04:45.and friends are not coming. I have been with our family as they
:04:46. > :04:50.discover their five-year-old wasn't being returned to them, and their
:04:51. > :04:55.howls of anguish and pain will live with me for many years. It has been
:04:56. > :04:58.the most emotionally... I can't begin to pretend anything I have
:04:59. > :05:02.felt in the past week as compared with the stories I have listened to
:05:03. > :05:07.our families and the grief, anguish and pain, but I think this week has
:05:08. > :05:13.done some things for me - it has given me a real love for the people
:05:14. > :05:18.of North Kensington, and I think it has also made me realise that not
:05:19. > :05:24.only do we do that through prayer and through finance, but we do it
:05:25. > :05:25.politically and speak up for people who feel they have no one to listen
:05:26. > :05:39.for them -- to them. A warm and sultry night ahead. We
:05:40. > :05:43.will start the temperatures like this. In the afternoon, London will
:05:44. > :05:47.have had at least 30 Celsius perhaps 32. Very high UV levels, and he
:05:48. > :05:50.continues through the week. We are back tonight at twenty past
:05:51. > :06:13.ten here on BBC One. Good evening. Hot, dry and sunny for
:06:14. > :06:20.most of us with the exception of the far north-west, where it is cloudy
:06:21. > :06:26.and cool, 12 Celsius. Temperatures in the mid-20s. And, low 30s in the
:06:27. > :06:31.south-east. If that is too hot and humid for many of you, the place to
:06:32. > :06:35.be was close to the coast, where a refreshing sea breeze made it feel
:06:36. > :06:43.better. It will be humid through the night. Uncomfortable for sleeping. A
:06:44. > :06:46.weather front lingers in the far north-west, producing outbreaks of
:06:47. > :06:52.rain and poor visibility on the coast. Here, that front will edge
:06:53. > :06:57.south through the day. Elsewhere, sunshine remains, and temperatures
:06:58. > :07:02.will rocket through the day. Mid-afternoon, 30-30 do Celsius
:07:03. > :07:03.again. -- 30-32dC