Sir Keir Starmer has piled pressure on Reform UK to sack their housing spokesman after he made “disgusting” comments about the Grenfell Tower fire.
The prime minister joined calls for Nigel Farage to take action after Simon Dudley said “everyone dies in the end”, and argued “the pendulum has swung too far” on building safety regulations in the wake of the Grenfell tragedy.
A group representing some survivors and bereaved have condemned the comments as “deeply dehumanising”, and called Mr Dudley’s words “deeply offensive and ill informed”.
The blaze killed 72 people and displaced many more after it tore through the 24-storey west-London social housing block in June 2017.
The fire prompted national conversations about building safety regulation reforms, after a major inquiry into the blaze found the tower had been coated in flammable materials because of the “systematic dishonesty” of firms that made and sold the cladding and insulation.
But in an interview with Inside Housing, Mr Dudley, who was appointed the party’s housing policy chief earlier this year, said “fires happen” and that there is now too much regulation in the building industry.
After describing the fire as a “tragedy” and a “failure”, he said: “Sadly, you know, everyone dies in the end. It’s just how you go, right?”
He added: “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?”
In another interview with Housing Today, he argued the “pendulum has swung too far” on reform.
The comments have been met with outrage, with the prime minister joining calls for Mr Farage to sack Mr Dudley.
Sir Keir wrote on X: “Shameful. Nigel Farage should do the decent thing and sack him.”
Grenfell United, a group which represents some bereaved and survivors, said his words are “not just insensitive”, but also “deeply dehumanising”.
“Our loved ones did not simply ‘die.’ They were failed. They were trapped in their homes, in a building that should have been safe, in a fire that should never have happened. Reducing their deaths to an inevitability strips away the truth: this was preventable,” a statement on Thursday said.
“To speak about Grenfell in this way is to erase responsibility. It suggests this was just fate, just ‘how it goes,’ rather than the result of years of ignored warnings, poor decisions, and a failure to value the lives of residents, and is deeply offensive and ill informed.
“Everyone deserves the right to a safe home. But this attitude clearly shows Simon Dudley is not the man to ensure that happens.”
The prime minister’s intervention came after housing minister Steve Reed also called out Mr Dudley’s comments.
"If Nigel Farage has an ounce of decency, he will sack his housing chief immediately,” he said. “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 Siân Berry said the comments marked a “new low” for Reform, which had “shown a real disrespect to the victims of Grenfell”.
She said: “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.”
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan called the comments “sickeningly insensitive”.
“Not an ounce of decency, compassion or respect for the 72 lives lost and wider community,” he wrote on X.
“But this isn’t a slip-up or a stumble. This is Reform showing us exactly who they are.”
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.”
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