Government refuses full police funding request for Grenfell investigation despite approving all others – including royal wedding security

Exclusive: Home Office accused of 'denying justice' over decision

The government refused to fully meet a special request for funding towards the Grenfell Tower police investigation despite approving all others made last year – including those to cover security for the royal wedding and Donald Trump’s visit.

While the request for additional funding for the probe into the 2017 disaster was considerably higher than others lodged by the Metropolitan Police, politicians said the decision was causing further delays and accused the Home Office of “denying justice”.

Last year, £10.1m out of £11m was awarded for the Grenfell investigation and in 2018-19, £11.4m out of £13.5m was given.

But among the funding requests met in full are £5.2m for the Commonwealth Summit, £237,000 for security for the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, £1.3m for the US president's 2018 visit, and £608,500 for the Madeleine McCann investigation.

There has been growing anger over the lack of progress into the investigation of the Grenfell tragedy, which killed 72 people. More than a year and a half on from the tragedy, no arrests have been made and only three interviews have so far been carried out.

Emma Dent Coad, Labour MP for Kensington, said: “Justice delayed is justice denied. The government must urgently explain their decision to withhold special grant funding for the Grenfell Tower investigation.

“The police have hundreds of thousands of documents to examine and lack of funds for processing them will slow down their investigation.

“If the government can find the special grant funding to fully cover the costs of security for a visit from Donald Trump and a royal wedding, then they can find the money needed for justice for Grenfell.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “To date, we have awarded the Metropolitan Police a total of £22m towards their Grenfell Tower response and investigation costs.

“This includes reimbursing the force in full for the cost of its response and covers the vast majority of its investigation costs.”