Grenfell Tower death toll rises to 17, MP alleges 'corporate manslaughter'

Emergency services worked through the night around the Grenfell Tower in west London as the Metropolitan police said it did not expect to find any further survivors from a massive blaze, which has left 17 people confirmed dead so far.

The residential tower in Kensington became engulfed in flames late on Tuesday night, with firefighters tackling the inferno for more than 24 hours afterwards.

Prime minister Theresa May visited the scene of the fire on Wednesday and promised a full investigation into the cause of the incident, with many calling into question the safety of the building against a fire risk.

Stuart Cundy, Met police commander, said the security services were not anticipating any further survivors to be found in the building.

“The thoughts of all of us from the emergency services ... and from all of London, our thoughts will be with those so affected by a fire on a scale that is unprecedented,” Cundy said.

Prime minister Theresa May visited the scene of the fire on Wednesday

London Fire Brigade chief Dany Cotton said there were still an unknown number of people in the tower, as dozens of families desperately seek news about their missing loved ones.

Cotton added that it “could take weeks” to complete a full search of the 24-storey block of flats.

David Lammy, Labour MP for Tottenham, said on Wednesday the fire was akin to “corporate manslaughter”.

In an interview broadcast on BBC Radio 4, Lammy said: “We should call it what it is, it's corporate manslaughter, that's what it is and there should be arrests made, frankly,"

“Many of us across the country have been caught up in an election, knocking on housing estate doors right across the country, travelling up to the the top floors of tower blocks and we know as politicians that the conditions in this country are unacceptable,” he added.

Anger was apparent from a residents group blog post on Tuesday, which had previously warned that the tower block was susceptible to such incidents.

David Collins from the Grenfell Action Group, wrote: “All our warnings fell on deaf ears and we predicted that a catastrophe like this was inevitable and just a matter of time.”

Grenfell Tower, built in the 1970s as part of a larger social housing complex in the Lancaster West estate in north Kensington, underwent a £10m refurbishment in 2016.

Following this, the tower received a fire risk assessment last June and was assessed as being a "medium" fire risk, defined as presenting a normal fire risk.