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Hello and welcome to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry podcast with me, Kate Lamble.

It's been a significant week for the inquiry as it started a new section of evidence,

finally turning its attention to how the building regulations were set

and combustible materials tested and certified.

And that includes the role of central government.

In the opening statements, no one was pulling any punches.

They were fobbed off time and again with the same, and I'm sorry to say, lies.

We submit this is symptomatic of a corrupt culture in the testing and certification industry.

This inquiry is not a game of cat and mouse. The department greatly regrets that it took the Grenfell Tower

tragedy to lay bare this missed place and abused trust. It's ridiculing, humiliating health and safety

and relegating citizens, as it were, too, effectively, a bombfire.

The result is a prolonged period of concealment by government,

which should properly be regarded as one of the major scandals of our time.

Let's go through these opening statements then.

Stephanie Barwise represents one group of bereaved survivors and residents.

The Grenfell disaster is a predictable yet unintended consequence of the combination of the

laudable desire to reduce carbon emissions,

coupled with an unbridled passion for deregulation,

in particular a desire to deregulate and boost the housing construction industry.

Government, she said, not only wanted to foster the construction industry but became dependent on it.

This allowed companies to freely exploit the regulations.

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