MP Harriet Harman said she backed calls for a public inquiry into fire safety in high-rise buildings after six people died in a tower block blaze.

Police forensic officers and fire investigators are still searching Lakanal House in Camberwell, south London, to find the cause of the blaze on Friday night and discover why it spread so quickly.

Ms Harman, Leader of the House of Commons and MP for Camberwell and Peckham, said it was important to establish the sort of inquiry and what its remit would be.

Local Labour councillor Ian Wingfield said he would be writing to the Government to demand an inquiry into the cause of the fire.

He said: "We need to look not only at the cause of this tragedy and establish what is needed to prevent it reoccurring, but it also becomes a larger national issue because this is not the only block like this in the country. There are thousands of others and this is an issue of national significance."

Mr Wingfield, who is Labour spokesman for public housing in the borough of Southwark, said there was "a lot" of public support for an inquiry.

He said that Labour councillors will put forward an emergency motion to the council later this week to push for a public inquiry.

All of the six people who died in the fire were on the 11th floor, four sheltering together in a bathroom reportedly on the advice of the fire service.

Police investigations to determine whether the fire was suspicious could take days and results of the fire services' own inquiries could be weeks away, spokesmen for both services said.

The single staircase in the middle of the 12-storey 1960s building is at the centre of the investigation after doubts were raised over whether escape routes and fire prevention measures were adequate.

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