London: The head of the Fire Brigades Union has described the Grenfell Tower disaster as a "crime" that should topple the government amid warnings over a boycott of the national inquiry.
FBU chief Matt Wrack said the tower block fire was a "national political scandal" and called for ministers to be hauled before the inquiry to answer questions about why regulations were cut.
The union will walk away from the official inquiry if it is seen by survivors and firefighters as a "pointless stitch up", Wrack warned.
Speaking at a fringe event at the Labourconference, he said: "To me, Grenfell Tower was an atrocity.
"You struggle to find words to describe it when 80 people die in their own homes, not through war, not through terrorism but through some other crime, in my view.
"A crime where people have to be held to account."
Political decisions to alter safety and inspection regimes created a culture where the fire could occur, he claimed.
Mr Wrack said: "For me it is a national political scandal. It is the sort of scandal on which governments should fall, by the way.
"Any genuine inquiry wouldn't just be asking firefighters to come and give evidence, as they will. They would be asking government ministers.
"They would be instructing government ministers to come and give evidence and be cross-examined about what decision they took, who gave them the advice, why did they take advice and not that advice and who signed off the change in the regulations."