Well, Mr. Paget-Brown is a buffoon if he or anyone else left safety standards up to anyone except for the competent authorities.

The question is could they not afford sprinklers or chose not to spend the money.  It would appear there were funds available, so it doesn't sound like a cost saving measure. It sounds more like incompetence.

You bring up savings £30M in 2013/14.  That should be applauded.  That money, then is available for some other purpose.  I am not sure I agree with refunding piddly amounts like £100.  Heck, the money was already collected, may as well keep it and reduce taxes next year.

But I don't think returning £30M  impacted whether sprinklers were installed or not.  It seems like there were funds in reserve that could have been used for that purpose.  It seems someone made a decision not to install the sprinklers.  Why was this case.  

Unfortunately, incompetence knows no political boundaries and equally infects Cons and Libs.