THE final report of the Grenfell Tower inquiry has now been published. In over 1,500 harrowing pages, it details the corporate greed, political decisions and criminal complacency that led to the worst domestic fire in modern British history.

Following years of interviews and evidence, and after repeated delays, the families, bereaved and survivors of Grenfell finally have an official account of the causes of the fire.

This is a time for remembering the 72 lives so tragically lost. It serves as a reminder of the deep scar that the Grenfell Tower fire has left on the community. The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) shares their grief and anger, and echoes continued calls for justice.

This is not the end. No arrests have been made. Recommendations are not binding; indeed, the recommendations may not be sufficient to address the scale of the problems identified. We must fight for change.

The report demonstrates beyond doubt that central government’s deregulation agenda cost lives. Decades of ministerial failure to regulate the building industry gave the green light for businesses to prioritise profit over human life.

Construction companies were able to game the system, knowingly cladding buildings in flammable materials. Corporations involved in the fatal refurbishment of the tower, including Rydon, Studio E and Harley, revealed the total absence of any consideration of fire safety in the selection and installation of the materials used to clad the tower.

Celotex and Kingspan — the manufacturers of the combustible insulation used behind the ACM cladding — falsified fire tests to gain access the lucrative high-rise market in Britain. Instead of being a priority, fire safety was treated as a costly nuisance.

A system of semi-privatised building control put commercial interests ahead of regulatory duties. We cannot forget that this happened after the Cameron government boasted of a “bonfire” of red tape, a continuation of decades of politicians ripping up safety regulations.

Again and again, residents and firefighters warned of the dangers of wrapping buildings in petrol. These warnings — going back to the 1990s — were repeatedly ignored at every level. This has created an ongoing crisis in building safety. Action to tackle it has fallen far too short and has been far too slow. Of the 4,600 residential high-rise buildings identified as having unsafe cladding, we know that half have not even started remedial works.

Last week, a fire broke out in a residential block in Dagenham, east London. Hundreds of firefighters attended, working through the night to evacuate homes and fight the fire. According to the London Fire Brigade, the building had “non-compliant” cladding on it, and had been the subject of a fire enforcement notice in 2023.

The Grenfell Tower fire was a crime of deregulation and negligence. That a cladding fire happened a week before this report, seven years on, reveals an appalling lack of change.

The report makes over 80 recommendations, which the FBU will assess in detail over the weeks to come.

It is evident that the government must go much further than what is set out. The deregulation of recent decades must be comprehensively reversed. The systems for delivering building safety must be brought under public ownership and must be given the resources they need.

The lessons of the Grenfell Tower fire are relevant to fire and rescue services across Britain. To implement them, we need national standards set by a statutory advisory body on fire policy, giving a voice to firefighters and control staff and drawing on the best expert advice.

Politicians failed to protect lives, allowing this entirely preventable tragedy to happen. In memory of the victims of the Grenfell fire, we must make sure lessons are finally learned and applied. We must fight for safety to be put before profit.

Matt Wrack is general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union.