Kensington MP Emma Dent Coad believes the “tears may never stop” following the Grenfell Tower fire.
She added the “burnt-out carcass” of the tower reveals the “true face” of her constituency, with poverty, malnutrition and over-crowding existing alongside wealth.
The Labour MP drew heavily upon the tragedy as she made her maiden speech in the House of Commons.
It came hours after she told Prime Minister Theresa May that “words must be followed by deeds” and called for fire service cuts to be reversed.
Speaking in the Commons, Ms Dent Coad criticised those people who think social tenants have “no right to live in an area like desirable Kensington”.
She said: “The horror and fear of this man-made catastrophe will be etched on all our hearts for ever. The tears may never stop. I know this from the grief etched on the faces of people in Ladbroke Grove.
The Labour MP makes her maiden speech (PA wire)
“Total strangers approaching me for comfort, reassurance, a question, a hug, to share their fears and disbelief that such horror could be visited upon our neighbourhood.
“And the burnt-out carcass of Grenfell Tower and all it represents lours over us.
“And the Red Cross managing a relief programme in Kensington.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here