A discussion about the budget was rapidly descending into an argument when Susanna Reid was forced to interrupt Good Morning Britain to reveal some devastating news
Good Morning Britain‘s Susanna Reid was forced to interrupt a heated discussion about the budget as heartbreaking news came in. The ITV morning show host said the news brought back “awful memories”.
Susanna and the shows’ guests were talking about the “smorgasbord” of tax rises expected in the budget and the presenter seemed to be getting irate about the vague language being used to discuss it, frustratingly calling it all “semantics”.
But she soon had to stop the discussion to reveal some breaking news. “We’ve got some news coming out of Hong Kong,” she started. “Where a fire is engulfing a residential building.”
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As live footage came in of the building burning, Susanna found the fire difficult to talk about. “Wow, goodness me, these are live pictures. They bring back awful memories don’t they?”
She couldn’t help drawing parallels between the Hong Kong fire, where several people are trapped inside, and the tragedy at Grenfell Tower in 2017.
The fire at Grenfell resulted in 72 deaths and a public inquiry was started to establish what happened and how such a disaster can be prevented in the future.
The inquiry, which only ended in February this year, found that there was a chain of failures across government and the private sector led to Grenfell Tower becoming a death trap in the event of a fire, as the cladding and insulation were failed fire safety tests.
Susanna described “plumes of grey smoke” coming out of the Hong Kong building and said local fire departments were “battling” to put out the fire and save the people inside.
Kevin Maguire, who was on the show to talk about the budget, said: “You’ve just got to hope that there are lots of exits and that the outside windows have been fitted properly so unlike Grenfell, the fire can’t go outside.”
After the Grenfell fire, it was found that the fire was able to move more easily between the interior and exterior of the building as the windows’ surrounds were made of materials that were less resistant to the heat. The windows themselves were an insufficient size when they were refurbished, necessitating larger surrounds.
Good Morning Britain soon turned back to talk about the budget. Andrew Pierce said he thought Rachel Reeves would be sacked after the budget.
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