A community group representing victims and survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire has denounced the replacement of a housing expert who was due to participate in the second phase of the inquiry into the tragedy.

Professor Nabeel Hamdi, an AA graduate described as an “accomplished academic with an international reputation in housing and participatory design and planning”, had been lined up to serve as a specialist panel member for the second-phase hearings, starting in the coming weeks.

But a letter from prime minister Boris Johnson to inquiry chair Martin Moore-Bick on 23 December said Hamdi was now “unable” to take part in the second phase and proposed chartered engineer Benita Mehra as his replacement.

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