I think May was an ineffective Home Secretary and has proved to be ineffective as PM. But just because she is now PM does not mean that she should be singled out for blame in this tragedy. Austerity and the cost-cutting that went with it was a policy insisted upon and championed by the whole of the Conservative Party. It may be convenient for some (including the press) to direct a barrage of criticism at May in order to deflect blame away from Conservative collective responsibility for the sort of rigid ideology that seems to have prioritised monetary savings over the safety and wellbeing of the population. I do, however, think that it was reasonable of people to expect May, as PM, to speak with the residents of Grenfell when she visited the site.
anniebach Have you been happy with the way May has dealt with this awful situation and her responses to questions regarding what happens next? The last time I saw her interviewed (by Emily Maitlis) she kept repeating over and over again what everybody already knew - that it is a terrible tragedy, people have lost their loved ones and everything they own, they are traumatised, etc. etc. etc. She concluded the interview: “What I’m now absolutely focused on is ensuring that we get that support on the ground. Government is making money available; we are ensuring we are going to get to the bottom of what happened we will ensure that people are rehoused, but we need to make sure that that actually happens.”
In fact, the response to the needs and distress of the people who have been bereaved and/or who have lost their homes and everything they own has been abysmal. Even though it is said that now there is better organisation, people on the ground have resported, with astonishment, that up until this point they had been left to their own devices, with no extra staff or services called in and no co-ordination of the services provided by community volunteers.
