Nigel Farage sacks Reform UK’s housing chief after ‘shameful’ Grenfell remarks

The Reform figure argued that building safety provisions introduced after the fire represented "regulation which is not working", and claimed the regulatory approach had become disproportionate.

"So the pendulum has just swung too far the wrong way," he said.

Sir Keir condemned Mr Dudley's comments, and responded on X with: "Shameful. Nigel Farage should do the decent thing and sack him".

Following the Prime Minister's intervention, Mr Dudley issued an apology on X, insisting he had not intended to diminish the significance of the disaster or the lives lost.

"Grenfell was an utter tragedy and quite rightly prompted a wholesale review and tightening of fire regulations," he wrote.

"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."

Mr Dudley pointed to the Berkeley Group's recent decision to halt new land acquisitions and freeze recruitment, citing "an unprecedented surge in costs and regulation".

He maintained that his concern centred on "numerous measures that do nothing to protect life and are throttling housebuilding".

The Grenfell Inquiry determined that all 72 deaths in the fire were preventable, concluding that "decades of failure" by successive governments and the construction sector to address the risks posed by flammable cladding on tower blocks had preceded the catastrophe.

Mr Dudley was appointed to his role as Reform's housing spokesman last month, with the party announcing he would spearhead an urgent examination of "Britain's building crisis" covering planning, housing delivery and national infrastructure.

In his interview with Inside Housing published on Wednesday, he drew comparisons between fire fatalities and road deaths.

"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 said.

Calls for Mr Dudley's removal echoed across party benches, with stark opposition to the comments.

Housing Secretary Steve Reed demanded Mr Farage act immediately, stating: "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".

The bereaved and survivor group, Grenfell United, described Mr Dudley's comments as "not just insensitive, it is deeply dehumanising".

Grenfell United's statement read: “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".

“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".

Green Party MP Sian Berry accused Reform of showing "real disrespect to the victims of Grenfell" and described the comments as "truly abhorrent".

A Reform UK spokesman originally defended Mr Dudley, arguing that his core point surrounding excessive building safety requirements impeding housing construction at a time when more homes are desperately needed stands.

The party maintained there must be "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".