THE total ban on Grenfell-type cladding must be enforced now to stop unscrupulous firms continuing to use the material before the cut-off in December, the inquiry into the disaster heard today.

Earlier this month, the government finally banned the specific type of cladding used on the west London tower block that enabled the fire to rapidly spread across the building’s exterior on June 14 2017. 

The ban comes five years after the devastating blaze and two decades after the government first received information about the danger of polyethylene-cord cladding in 2002. 

In closing statements to the inquiry, Sam Stein QC, representing some of the bereaved families and survivors, said it was a disgrace that the ban had only been enforced this year. 

He criticised the decision not to enforce the ban until December 1, and that it also only applies to new building projects, not existing properties or projects that are already under way. 

“But why allow this?” said Mr Stein. “The industry has had fair warning in the form of the tragedy at Grenfell Tower: don’t use these materials. They are dangerous and they are going to be banned.

“Does it make sense to let an unscrupulous company buy up the no doubt ever cheapening stocks of this material to shove on hospitals just in time to limbo under the ban. Can we please stop putting corporate profits over safety to life?” 

Mr Stein also accused witnesses called in module six of the inquiry, which looked at the testing of cladding and role of central government, of “doing their best to hoodwink the panel.” 

Officials who failed to inform others of the known dangers of the materials must be sacked, he said: the families demand accountability. 

He named in particular civil servant Brian Martin, the head of technical policy for building regulation, who admitted to the inquiry that he could have prevented the fire, and Dr Sarah Colwell, the lead scientist at the Building Research Establishment.

“Both individuals, through indolence or professional ineptitude, missed clear opportunities to change the system of regulation which would have prevented the tragedy at the Grenfell tower,” Mr Stein said. 

Later Michael Mansfield QC suggested that government failures to enforce a ban on combustible cladding years ago points to a “determined policy not to do it” amid a push for deregulation. 

The inquiry continues.