Former Homes England chair appointed Reform housing spokesperson

In his first statement as Reform’s housing spokesperson, he said Britain faces a “building crisis” with young people barred from homeownership, families paying high rents and businesses held back by the planning system.

He added: “I have spent my career delivering homes and major regeneration schemes. 

“I know that with the right reforms we can move quickly and at scale.” 

He said the party is serious about “restoring common sense to planning” and “giving working families the chance to own a home and build a secure future”.

Inside Housing interviewed Mr Dudley five years ago, when he took on the role at Ebbsfleet just after he left Homes England.

Richard Tice, Reform’s deputy leader who appointed Mr Dudley to the role, also gave an insight into some of the party’s likely policies in his comments.

He said: “Under Reform, we will get Britain building again, faster and at better value.

“That means accelerating planning and incentivising brownfield development. It means keeping smart, safe regulation and scrapping daft EU-conceived rules that are blocking over 100,000 homes.”

Mr Tice blamed “weak, inexperienced leadership” for the lack of housing and infrastructure delivery in the country, and described the current system as “clogged by delay, over-regulation and absurdly high costs”.

Reform is the fifth biggest party in the current parliament, with just eight MPs.

But it has been topping polls of UK voters since last spring and is still in the lead as the local elections approach this May, though the Greens and Conservatives are hot on their heels in YouGov’s latest survey.

In Scotland, where elections will also be held this May, polls have the ruling SNP in pole position.

But the race for second place appears to be less clear; Reform were ahead of Labour in YouGov’s January survey, but the two swapped places in a March poll by Ipsos.

Representatives from all three parties plus the Liberal Democrats took part in a hustings at the Chartered Institute of Housing Scotland Housing Festival last week. You can catch up with what they said here.