London fire: Theresa May invites Grenfell Tower victims to Downing Street for meeting

Francesca Gillett17 June 2017

Theresa May has met with residents of Grenfell Tower at her home in Downing Street just days after a devastating fire ripped through the building.

The Prime Minister, who has this week faced criticism over her response to victims affected by the tragedy, met with victims affected for two and a half hours on Saturday afternoon.

It comes as the Met Police announced at least 58 people are now presumed dead in the blaze, which broke out in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

The Prime Minister chaired a Government taskforce on the disaster before meeting residents in Number 10.

The group of residents, who were wearing white wristbands as a show of solidarity, left and briefly told cameras they would be making a full statement "in the community" following the meeting.

A spokesman for the group, right, said a statement will be made.
AFP/Getty Images

The representative said the group had spoken with Mrs May about their "demands and what we expect".

Mrs May has been heavily criticised in the wake of the tragedy after making a private visit to the Grenfell Tower building and failing to meet with victims in the direct aftermath of the disaster.

The group outside Number 10 on Saturday.
AFP/Getty Images

She later visited survivors in hospital before meeting victims and community leaders at a church in Kensington on Friday night.

But the PM was slammed again for a BBC Newsnight programme on Friday in which she was grilled over what she had done for the victims. Presenter Emily Maitlis accused Mrs May of "misreading the public mood" surrounding the blaze.

Downing Street had previously announced £5 million would be spent on clothing, aid and food for victims of the blaze.

Many people are furious following Wednesday's blaze, which has been called "avoidable".

Fury came to a head on Friday evening as two separate protests erupted across the capital. Protesters stormed Kensington town hall demanding answers while a separate group marched to Downing Street.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Sign up you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy notice .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in