"In their letter to the Home Office, lawyers for the FBU cited media reports which said the Bibby Stockholm had only 222 single-occupancy rooms, but that additional beds had been placed in each in order to to increase the capacity to 506.
"Other reports said that, while the barge had three fire exits, one was not operational because it was at the end of a gangway that had been deemed too steep to be safely used.
“A whistleblower in the local authority is also quoted as telling the Times that fire checks in July had led to serious safety concerns and describing the barge as having the potential to become a “floating Grenfell”.”
I sometimes wonder if there isn’t an element of doing things this way with the knowledge and expectation that others will expend energy and resources challenging it; win or lose, it might just prove to be an effective, devious and deliberate tactic for wearing people down.
Governments definitely do not want people chasing them for corruption. This was the downfall of John Major with the sleaze around cash for questions. Sleaze is a line Labour have thrown at the Tories ever since just to remind them of the cause of their worst ever defeat to date.
This current lot bat the sleaze comments away by gaslighting the public that it could not possibly be true. The only time they ever react is when it looks like they cannot hide and it is going to cost them votes. Owen Patterson being the most prominent case on that one. I suppose there is an element of this with Nadine Dorries as well. Grifting as an MP is sort of akin to stealing MPs wages while doing naff all.
There are plenty of dishonest MPs, but not so many that are well known. The Tory press hound any opposition aggressively and hide away from their own failings. Michelle Mone’s total absence with press coverage or police charges versus the response given to Nicola Sturgeon being yet another case in point.