Victims of the Grenfell Tower fire say they are still waiting for justice after a damning report blamed it on dishonest companies and a chain of failures by governments.

A cladding manufacturer was said to deliberately conceal fire risks, while coalition and Conservative governments ignored, delayed or disregarded concerns, the six-year public inquiry's final report concluded. Grenfell United, which represents some of the families, said the inquiry's report set out how corporate bodies involved were said to be “little better than crooks".

Spokesperson for the group, Natasha Elcock, said: "Human life was never a priority, and we lost friends, neighbours and loved ones in the most horrific way - from greed, corruption." The fire in the west London tower block in June 2017 left 72 people dead - 54 adults and 18 children.

Police and prosecutors said that investigators will need until the end of next year to complete their inquiry, with final decisions on potential criminal charges by the end of 2026. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “It’s imperative that there was full accountability for those responsible - including potential criminal prosecution - as soon as possible”.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said: "Those responsible must now be immediately held to account. Everyone deserves the right to live in a safe home.

"The road to justice is still too long and change must be delivered without any further delay."

Joe Powell, Labour MP for Kensington and Bayswater, the constituency where Grenfell is situated, said survivors and the bereaved had waited too long for the truth. "The shameless merry-go-round of buck-passing that has happened for the last seven years since Grenfell must now come to an end," he went on.

Ms Elcock demanded the government address the failings without delay, saying police and the Crown Prosecution Service must make sure they held those responsible accountable, whilst Sir Keir apologised on behalf of the government. “The disaster should never have happened," he said.

Grenfell United quoted that “previous governments had aided corporations, facilitating them to profit and dictate regulation." It called for some of the firms involved to be banned from government contracts.

The group said that the report marked a significant chapter since the fire, but members also felt that justice had not been delivered. Among the key findings of the report were:

  • There was "systematic dishonesty" by the manufacturers of cladding and insulation
  • US firm Arconic, manufacturer of the Reynobond 55 cladding which experts at the inquiry said was "by far the largest contributor" to the fire, deliberately concealed the true extent of the danger of using its product
  • Manufacturers made "false and misleading claims" over the safety and suitability of insulation to the company which installed it on Grenfell
  • There was a "chronic lack" of leadership at the London Fire Brigade, including too much emphasis on process and an "attitude of complacency"
  • The government and others failed to give proper consideration to the dangers of some kinds of cladding over decades
  • The local council and the Tenant Management Organisation had a "persistent indifference to fire safety, particularly the safety of vulnerable people"
  • How building safety is managed in England and Wales was “seriously defective”.

Inquiry chair Sir Martin Moore-Bick said that the deaths had been avoidable and the tower's residents had been badly failed over a number of years and in a number of different ways. Not all of the named organisations and companies, he added, bore the "same degree of responsibility for the disaster", with some showing "dishonesty and greed" while others were simply incompetent.

The report said Arconic had concealed the results of fire tests which revealed very poor ratings for cladding installed as folded cassettes. In response to the report, Arconic rejected “any claim” that its subsidiary Arconic Architectural Products had “sold an unsafe product”.

The inquiry also found fault with Celotex and Kingspan, which both made insulation. Celotex said it had “reviewed and improved” process controls, quality management and its approach to marketing.

Kingspan said it had "long acknowledged the wholly unacceptable historical failings that occurred in part" of its UK insulation business. London Fire Brigade Commissioner Andy Roe said the fire service was "not complacent" and would continue to act on the inquiry's findings.

US firm Arconic, manufacturer of the Reynobond 55 cladding which experts at the inquiry said was the largest contributor to the fire, deliberately concealed the true extent of the danger of using its product. London Fire Brigade Commissioner Andy Roe said that the fire service was not complacent and would continue to act on the inquiry's findings.

Opposition leader and former PM Rishi Sunak said the report was a "damning indictment of over 30 years of successive state failures" which painted a picture of "systemic indifference" and "failure" and, in some cases, "dishonesty and greed". Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said: "criminality must be investigated, tried and punished", be it "corporate manslaughter, fraud or misconduct in public office".