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Should austerity end?

The fatal Grenfell Tower fire exposed "the disastrous effect of austerity" and should act as a "wake-up call", Jeremy Corbyn has claimed.

Shadow Northern Ireland secretary Owen Smith, said "we are "paying a price for [austerity] and Grenfell is a reflection of that".

Mr Smith called on the Conservatives to think about the "bigger issue", telling Transport Secretary Chris Grayling "you need to do something about it, you're in power".

But Mr Grayling argued against linking the Grenfell tragedy with austerity "before we know the causes".

He told Martha Kearney the Conservative government had sought "to bring down a level of deficit that was beyond anything we've experience in peace time history".

(Photo: Chris Grayling (L), Owen Smith (R). Credit: Reuters/Getty Images)

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