Grenfell remarks trigger sack as Farage dumps housing spokesman
Nigel Farage today fired Reform’s housing spokesman after just a month amid a row over his complaint that regulations brought in after the deadly Grenfell Tower fire were too tough and ’everyone dies in the end’.
Simon Dudley, a former executive at Homes England and the Ebbsfleet Development Corporation, said the pendulum had ’swung too far the wrong way’ on regulation after the deadly blaze at the west London tower block in 2017.
The Grenfell Inquiry found that the 72 deaths were avoidable and had been preceded by ’decades of failure’ by governments and the building industry to act on the dangers of flammable materials on high-rise buildings.
Mr. Dudley was appointed as housing spokesman for Reform last month and the party said at the time he would lead an urgent review into ’Britain’s building crisis’ that would set out reforms to planning, housing delivery, and national infrastructure.
In an interview with Inside Housing published on Wednesday, he said building safety regulations introduced after the Grenfell Tower fire were an example of ’regulation which is not working’.
Mr. Dudley told the magazine the Grenfell fire was a ’tragedy’ but said he does not believe the regulatory regime is proportionate.
He went on to say: ’Sadly, you know, everyone dies in the end. It’s just how you go, right?’
This morning he rowed back on his remarks saying the fire had been ’an utter tragedy and quite rightly prompted a wholesale review and tightening of fire regulations’.
’In no shape or form am I belittling that disaster or the huge loss of life. It must never happen again. I reiterate that, and am sorry if it was not sufficiently clear,’ he added.
But Grenfell bereaved and survivors said the comments were ’deeply dehumanising’ and it prompted Prime Minister Keir Starmer to post on X: ’Shameful. Nigel Farage should do the decent thing and sack him.’
Mr. Farage told a press conference today that Mr. Dudley is ’no longer a spokesman’ after his ’deeply inappropriate’ words.
Asked whether Mr. Dudley would be sacked, Mr. Farage replied: ’That’s already happened.’
The Building Safety Regulator, which was set up after the fire and is responsible for regulating the safe design, construction, and occupation of higher-risk buildings, has faced criticism for delays in its approval processes.
In June last year, the Government announced reforms to tackle delays to building new high-rise homes, including a fast-track process and investment.
He added: ’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?’
He argued that ’You can’t stop tragic things from happening. You can try to minimize excesses, but bad things do happen.’
The effect of poor regulation, he said, is that it stops houses from being built.
’So the pendulum has just swung too far the wrong way,’ he said.
Housing Secretary Steve Reed said: ’If Nigel Farage has an ounce of decency, he will sack his housing chief immediately.
’These disgraceful comments about those who died in the Grenfell Tower fire are beyond the pale and it is completely untenable for Simon Dudley to continue in his position.’
Green Party MP Sian Berry said: ’Reform has sunk to a new low and shown 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.
’Nigel Farage must sack Simon Dudley for this disgusting outburst.
’That Reform would want to scrap key safety regulations brought in after the horrific Grenfell fires tells you everything you need to know about the party.’
A Reform UK spokesman said: ’Homes must, of course, be built safely.
’However, overly burdensome building safety regulations can stifle housebuilding, 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 overregulation – which can slow the delivery of new homes – and ensuring that more homes are built safely without too much red tape.’
Technology & Business Editor
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