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| Grenfell fire: Kensington council cancels meeting after High Court lets journalists attend | Grenfell fire: Kensington council cancels meeting after High Court lets journalists attend |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Officials at Kensington and Chelsea council have adjourned a cabinet meeting after press were allowed to attend, claiming it would "prejudice" the forthcoming public inquiry. | |
| The High Court earlier ruled that the council must let journalists attend the meeting - the first to be held by the local authority since the fire - after reporters were initially told they were barred. | |
| The decision by the leader of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Nicholas Paget-Brown, to postpone the meeting on Thursday afternoon triggered an angry response including from opposition councillor Robert Atkinson, who demanded the cabinet's resignation. | |
| Mr Paget-Brown had already begun a statement on the authority's response to the crisis when reporters arrived. | |
| After giving a short update, he announced to the room: "Given the public inquiry, we want to ensure our meetings do not descend into informal inquiries without all the facts to hand. | |
| "As you will be aware this is a private meeting of the cabinet, to which other Kensington and Chelsea councillors have been invited." | |
| Mr Atkinson intervened: "Why are press here, then?" | |
| Representatives of the press have a legal right to attend public meetings of local authorities. | |
| Mr Paget-Brown continued: "I have agreed the meeting be held in private, given the subject under discussion and the recent real threats of assault on council staff and damage to buildings. | |
| "I am advised that, if there are others present, we cannot have an open discussion." | |
| Additional reporting PA |