Reform UK Urged To Sack Housing Spokesman Over Grenfell Comment

Reform UK have been urged to sack the party’s housing spokesman over his “disgraceful” comments about the Grenfell Tower tragedy.

Simon Dudley said “everyone dies in the end” and “fires happen” as he said there was now too much regulation in the building industry.

A huge fire at the 24-storey west London tower block killed 72 people in 2017.

The tragedy led to a major overhaul of building regulations to prevent it happening again.

But in an interview with the trade publication Inside Housing, Dudley said the pendulum had “swung too far the wrong way”.

He said the Grenfell fire was a “tragedy” but added: “Sadly, you know, everyone dies in the end. It’s just how you go, right?”

Dudley went on: “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?”

Reacting on X, Keir Starmer said: “Shameful. Nigel Farage should do the decent thing and sack him.”

London mayor Sadiq Khan said Dudley’s comments were “sickeningly insensitive”.

In a post on X, he said: “Not an ounce of decency, compassion or respect for the 72 lives lost and wider community. But this isn’t a slip-up or a stumble. This is Reform showing us exactly who they are.”

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.”

In a post on X on Thursday morning, Dudley said he was sorry if is his comments were “not sufficiently clear”.

He said: “Grenfell was an utter tragedy and quite rightly prompted a wholesale review and tightening of fire regulations.

“I said it was a tragedy in my interview with Inside Housing and 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.

“To address the national housing crisis, we must ensure that regulation remains safe, sensible and proportionate. My concern is the introduction of numerous measures that do nothing to protect life and are throttling housebuilding.”

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