149 British buildings fail safety tests

Some 149 high-rise buildings have failed safety tests introduced after a deadly tower block fire in west London, a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Theresa May said, while criticising a decision to hold a council meeting on the disaster in private.

"So far the cladding from 149 high rise buildings in 45 local authority areas have failed the tests. That continues to be a 100 per cent test failure rate," the spokeswoman told reporters.

Responding to reports that the public and media were not allowed into a council meeting on the devastating fire in Grenfell Tower, west London, which killed at least 80 people, she said: "Our view is that access to democracy should always be easy.

"There are rules that state that all meetings must be open to the public except in certain circumstances ... and we would have expected the council to respect that."