Good morning. One of the big policy decisions for all parties ahead of the next election is whether or not to keep the pensions triple lock. Most mainstream economists and welfare experts think it is overly generous (pensioners used to be significantly poorer than working-age people, but that is no longer the case), and ultimately unaffordable. But it is popular, and pensioners turn out to vote in elections in much higher numbers than younger people.
The Conservatives at one point suggested they might drop it, but Kemi Badenoch now defends the triple lock quite strongly. Labour has not said what its election plans are yet. Nigel Farage, the Reform UK, says he will take tough decisions to cut welfare spending, and he was thought to be sceptical about the triple lock. But Robert Jenrick, his Treasury spokesperson, is thought to be in favour, and at a press conference later they are expected to confirm Reform UK would keep it.
But they will end up taking questions about the party’s housing spokesperson, Simon Dudley, who is now facing calls to resign over a comment apparently making light of the Grenfell Tower tragedy. The Press Association has the story. PA says:
double quotation markReform UK is facing calls to sack its housing spokesman after he said the Grenfell Tower fire was a “tragedy” but that “everyone dies in the end”.
Simon Dudley, a former executive at Homes England and the Ebbsfleet Development Corporation, said the pendulum had “swung too far the wrong way” on regulation after the deadly blaze at the west London tower block in 2017.
The Grenfell Inquiry found that the 72 deaths were avoidable and had been preceded by “decades of failure” by governments and the building industry to act on the dangers of flammable materials on high-rise buildings.
Dudley was appointed as housing spokesman for Reform last month and the party said at the time he would lead an urgent review into “Britain’s building crisis” that would set out reforms to planning, housing delivery and national infrastructure.
In an interview with Inside Housing published yesterday, he said building safety regulations introduced after the Grenfell Tower fire were an example of “regulation which is not working”.
Dudley told the magazine the Grenfell fire was a “tragedy” but said he does not believe the regulatory regime is proportionate.
He went on to say: “Sadly, you know, everyone dies in the end. It’s just how you go, right?”
The Building Safety Regulator, which was set up after the fire and is responsible for regulating the safe design, construction and occupation of higher-risk buildings, has faced criticism for delays in its approval processes.
In June last year, the government announced reforms to tackle delays to building new high-rise homes, including a fast-track process and investment.
Dudley 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?”
He argued that “You can’t stop tragic things happening. You can try to minimise excesses, but bad things do happen.”
The effect of poor regulation, he said, is that it stops houses being built.
“So the pendulum has just swung too far the wrong way,” he said.
Responding to the interview for Labour, Steve Reed, the housing secretary, said:
double quotation markIf 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.
9.45am: Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, holds a press conference, where he will call for tax cuts as a response to rising energy prices caused by the Iran war.
10am: The Scottish Green party launch their Holyrood election campaign.
11am: Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, and Robert Jenrick, his Treasury spokesperson, hold a press conference.
Late morning: Kemi Badenoch is on a visit in Redcar and Sunderland.
Lunchtime: Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, hosts a virtual meeting of foreign ministers from the 35 countries interested exploring ways to get the strait of Hormuz open.
12.15pm: Russell Findlay, the Scottish Conservative leader, sets out plans to improve Scottish education.
3.30pm: Scottish political party leaders take part in an elections hustings.
Today we are also be trying something new; I will be spending an hour or two in the afternoon specifically answering reader questions. We would like you to post them BTL and I will be replying ATL, probably from about 3pm. I will post more on this shortly.
In the meantime, if you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use social media. You can reach me on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social. The Guardian has given up posting from its official accounts on X, but individual Guardian journalists are there, I still have my account, and if you message me there at @AndrewSparrow, I will see it and respond if necessary.
I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos. No error is too small to correct. And I find your questions very interesting too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog.
