Allegations mount against Kingspan in Grenfell Tower blaze inquiry

Internal emails and evidence by former employees have focused attention on the Irish firm’s alleged lobbying for a weakening of British fire regulations before the 2017 fire that killed 72 people in a west London tower block

Fire raged through the Grenfell Tower residential block, in Kensington, west London, on June 14, 2017, resulting in the deaths of 72 people. Picture: Getty

Sam Stein, one of Britain’s most senior and serious barristers, didn’t mince his words.

After just a few days of evidence at the inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire, the lawyer for the survivors and the bereaved told the inquiry panel, chaired by Martin Moore-Bick, that it “may well come to the conclusion that the manufacturers Arconic, Kingspan and Celotex are little more than crooks and killers”.

And why? Because, according to Stein, these insulation ...