‘It WAS murder’ Labour’s John McDonnell REFUSES to apologise for Grenfell Tower remarks

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John McDonnell has claimed that Grenfell Tower fire victims were “murdered by political decisions”

The Labour MP said he was angry about the disaster and that he was reflecting the anger of survivors and victims’ families.

Mr McDonnell told Channel 4 News: “People have died on a scale we’ve not seen since the Second World War blitz, that’s why I’m angry, very angry.

“And I don’t believe my words were intemperate, I think they reflected the anger that is out there, how austerity has impacted upon our fire service, our local government in terms of inspections etcetera and some decisions made.”

He added: “We’ve got to wake up and learn the lessons.”

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  Labour Party politician grilled over being part of the ‘hard left’

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  John McDonnell calls for Theresa May’s head to make way for Labour

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The shadow chancellor said he was angry about the Grenfell Tower disaster

The Hayes and Harlington MP originally made the remark during a debate at Glastonbury festival’s Left Field tent, which asked whether democracy is broken.

At the event, he said: “Is democracy working? It didn’t work if you were a family living on the 20th floor of Grenfell Tower.

“Those families, those individuals, 79 so far and there will be more, were murdered by political decisions that were taken over recent decades.

“The decision not to build homes and to view housing as only for financial speculation rather than for meeting a basic human need made by politicians over decades murdered those families.

“The decision to close fire stations and to cut 10,000 firefighters and then to freeze their pay for over a decade contributed to those deaths inevitably and they were political decisions.”

Mr McDonnell this week said the Prime Minister should step down despite the Tories getting more seats than Labour in the General Election.

Speaking ahead of the NotOneDayMore/ToriesOut rally, Jeremy Corbyn’s number two said: “Theresa May should resign. Labour can take over now as a minority government on the manifesto that we want to implement.

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Mr McDonnell this week said Theresa May should step down as Prime Minister

“This country cannot bare anymore the austerity that has been implemented under the Tories. It is time now for her to go.

“She has an unstable coalition with the DUP based upon a bribe and I think that will fall apart. It is time for her to go.”

The rally cry came after tens of thousands of angry protesters descended onto Parliament Square, holding banners emblazoned with “Kick the Tories out” and “Austerity kills”.