Prime Minister Keir Starmer has called on Nigel Farage to sack Reform UK's new housing spokesperson, Simon Dudley, after he made controversial remarks about the Grenfell Tower fire. Dudley, in an interview with Inside Housing, described the 2017 tragedy as a 'failure' but added that 'everyone dies in the end', sparking widespread outrage.
Dudley criticised building safety regulations introduced after Grenfell, calling them 'regulation which is not working' and suggesting that far more people die on roads. 'Extracting Grenfell from the statistics, actually people dying in house fires is rare,' he said. The comments were condemned by Starmer, who wrote on X: 'Nigel Farage should do the decent thing and sack him.'
Grenfell United, a group representing bereaved families and survivors, said Dudley's words were 'insensitive and deeply dehumanising'. They stated: 'Our loved ones did not simply die. They were failed.' Another group, Grenfell Next of Kin, called the deaths 'gross negligent manslaughter, NOT fate'. The Fire Brigades Union also criticised Dudley, with general secretary Steve Wright calling his remarks 'disgusting and shocking'.
Dudley later responded on X, saying he apologised if his comments were 'not sufficiently clear', but insisted he had described Grenfell as 'an utter tragedy' and supported a review of fire regulations. He added that his main concern was 'the introduction of numerous measures that do nothing to protect life and are throttling housebuilding'.
A Reform UK spokesperson defended Dudley, stating: 'Simon’s comments on Grenfell reflected his broader point that the regulatory pendulum has swung too far in response to the tragedy.' Dudley, a former Conservative and chair of the Ebbsfleet Development Corporation, joined Reform in February.
