Reform housing spokesman sacked over Grenfell remarks

The housing spokesperson for Reform has been sacked following comments he made about the Grenfell disaster.

Simon Dudley, a former executive at Homes England and the Ebbsfleet Development Corporation who joined Reform in February, said the deadly blaze was a "tragedy" but that "everyone dies in the end".

He gave an interview to Inside Housing magazine in which he described building safety regulations introduced after the 2017 Grenfell tragedy as "regulation which is not working".

A group representing the bereaved of Grenfell have called Dudley's comments "ignorant and callous".

Reform leader Nigel Farage has confirmed that Dudley was "no longer a spokesman for the party" at press conference.

He added in response to a question by the BBC's Iain Watson: "I haven't spoken to him, he's under Richard Tice's department, Richard appointed him housing spokesman given his depth of experience in developing new towns.

"But the comments were deeply inappropriate, they were frankly rather shocking to many people, and Richard has dealt with it."

It comes after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer urged Nigel Farage to sack him, posting on X to say he should "do the decent thing".

Dudley told Inside Housing that Grenfell was "a tragedy" but "everyone dies in the end", adding that housing regulations introduced in Grenfell's wake were "not working".

In the interview, Dudley, who was also a former leader of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, called Grenfell "a tragedy. It was a failure".

When asked if the fire was not a warning, he said: "Sadly, you know, everyone dies in the end. It's just how you go, right?"

The Grenfell Tower Inquiry concluded the 2017 fire was entirely preventable and was caused by decades of systemic failures in building regulation, widespread industry dishonesty over fire safety, and serious failings by central government, local authorities and the fire service.

In the interview, Dudley said "extracting Grenfell from the statistics, actually people dying in house fires is rare. Many, many more people die on the roads driving cars, but we're not making cars illegal, so why are we stopping houses being built?"

Kimia Zabihyan from the Grenfell Next of Kin group said: "His comments are nothing but ignorant and misinformed.

"Building regulations are not what is slowing down development.

"They have lots of cladding regulation across Europe, in France and Germany, that has been proven to save lives.

"Similarly, in Italy and Spain where they have less regulation, they have seen incidents happen such as the Grenfell one.

"It's rather reductive thing to say, as well as being callous and not very emotionally intelligent.

"The death of our parents, partners, children, siblings grandparents and grandchildren in the most horrific circumstances was gross negligent manslaughter, not fate."

The group advocates for the next of kin and immediate families of the deceased.

Steve Reed, the secretary of state for housing, communities and local government, also said that Dudley's comments were "beyond the pale".

Green Party MP Siân Berry said Dudley's suggestion that post-Grenfell safety rules "have gone too far" represented "a new low".

"It shows a real disrespect to the victims of Grenfell. Anyone who has any awareness of what Grenfell residents went through, in fact anyone with any empathy or humanity, will find these comments truly abhorrent."

A Reform UK spokesperson said, before the sacking: "Homes must, of course, be built safely. However, overly burdensome building safety regulations can stifle house building, meaning targets are missed and the waiting list for homes grows longer at a time when we need more.

"Simon's comments on Grenfell reflected his broader point that the regulatory pendulum has swung too far in response to the tragedy.

"As he explained, there is a fine balance between over-regulation – which can slow the delivery of new homes – and ensuring that more homes are built safely without too much red tape."

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