Campaigners for Grenfell families have called on Reform UK and its housing spokesperson to apologise after he said the tower fire was a “tragedy” but that “everyone dies in the end”.
Simon Dudley, a former head of Homes England, had announced in February that he was joining Reform, as Nigel Farage said he was planning to bring more “experts” onboard to advise the party.
However, the new Reform housing spokesperson was embroiled in controversy overnight after 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”.
“That was a tragedy. It was a failure,” Dudley was quoted as saying, when asked if the fire was not a warning. “Sadly, you know, everyone dies in the end. It’s just how you go, right?” 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?”
Steve Reed, the secretary of state for housing, communities and local government, called on Dudley to resign.
“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,” Reed said.
The Grenfell Next of Kin group, which advocates on behalf of people who lost loved ones in the fire, said: “The death of our parents, partners, children, siblings grandparents and grandchildren in the most horrific circumstances was gross negligent manslaughter, NOT fate.”
“Dudley and Reform must apologise to the Grenfell Next of Kin families.” The group describes itself as an advocacy platform for the next of kin and immediate families of more than half of the deceased.
A Reform UK spokesperson 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.”
Dudley, a former Conservative supporter who has experience in international banking and held roles at HSBC and other companies, was chair of the Ebbsfleet Development Corporation until July last year, overseeing the creation of a new town the size of Chichester. He had been brought into the Tory party’s treasurers department as recently as October by the party chair, Kevin Hollinrake.
After joining Reform, he said: “For too long, the two main parties have failed to deliver housing for Brits. They’ve pursued a disastrous combination of extreme levels of immigration with a severe lack of new good quality homes.”
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