“Migrants are more important than residents" A statement that the Labour party will live to regret?

growstuff

Oreo

The government going against the Council, and of course the residents will be remembered at the next GE.
And on a practical note it would have been far better to move the asylum seekers from this hotel from anyone’s perspective.

The outcome of future elections must never be allowed to influence the outcome of legal proceedings. Anybody who thinks that obviously doesn't have much respect for the institutions of the country.

The ECHR shouldnt? Oh yes it should!

And yes, I think the conservatives pandered to it as well.

Which is all part of why so many people are switching to Reform. For now anyway.

PoliticsNerd

^... it would be better for everyone concerned if the migrants had been moved somewhere else.^ escaped

Somewhere along yours (and others) thinking, you have decided it's okay for white men, driven by misinformation, to have their voices heard. It is, apparently, also okay for innocent victims to be the ones to bear the brunt of this.

You would think every women in the country would be up in arms about this knowing that this was exactly how they have been treated for centuries.

Somewhere along your thinking you conveniently ignore that I am concerned for more than just white men in this instance.
The asylum seekers in The Bell don't need this either. Everyone means everyone, doesn't it?

As an aside, and for your information, along with others here I do have non white relatives in my immediate family.

Somewhere along yours (and others) thinking, you have decided it's okay for white men, driven by misinformation, to have their voices heard. It is, apparently, also okay for innocent victims to be the ones to bear the brunt of this.

Since when did the colour of their skin matter?

misinformation - who says?
truths and misinformation abound. In real life and on social media

to have their voices heard - why on earth should they not?
alarming that you seem to think they should not.

innocent victims - they are not innocent
more or less the entire point.
they came here illegally
I think that is what I dislike the most about the thoughts of left wing voters - on how they view life. Their views, on illigality. And oh how so easily they dismiss it as having none, or next to none, bearing and meaning about anything.

Oreo

The government going against the Council, and of course the residents will be remembered at the next GE.
And on a practical note it would have been far better to move the asylum seekers from this hotel from anyone’s perspective.

The outcome of future elections must never be allowed to influence the outcome of legal proceedings. Anybody who thinks that obviously doesn't have much respect for the institutions of the country.

What misinformation would that be? In this Epping case an asylum seeker from The Bell has been arrested for harassment of schoolgirls in the town centre.Maybe other charges.
Parents are worried about young men, or any men housed there from very different cultures to ours.

... it would be better for everyone concerned if the migrants had been moved somewhere else. escaped

Somewhere along yours (and others) thinking, you have decided it's okay for white men, driven by misinformation, to have their voices heard. It is, apparently, also okay for innocent victims to be the ones to bear the brunt of this.

You would think every women in the country would be up in arms about this knowing that this was exactly how they have been treated for centuries.

The government going against the Council, and of course the residents will be remembered at the next GE.
And on a practical note it would have been far better to move the asylum seekers from this hotel from anyone’s perspective.

And before the accusation of NIMBY is made, this is not acceptable in anyone's neighbourhood. And neither is this an acceptable stress to put on anyone, police and asylum seekers included. How much longer before something horrible occurs? Children as young as 10 are at these protests. Also, do we want to wait until an incendiary device is thrown into the Bell Hotel? I still think it is a tinderbox ready to ignite.

escaped

And so the trouble continues.

I reiterate, and no doubt sound very boring that it would be better for everyone concerned if the migrants had been moved somewhere else.

Three arrests were made last night during the ongoing protests in Epping. There is little sign of things calming down outside The Bell Hotel which is becoming a focal point in the country. Essex police are calling it a highly emotional situation. From what a resident who knows has told me, there is some controversy over a slight woman arrested by a group of police, but I haven't checked the facts.

I respect our police, I think anyone exhibiting criminal behaviour should be arrested. But it wouldn't be happening continuously and with growing fervour if the asylum seekers had been removed elsewhere.

I agree. It has really escalated and, as you say, if the asylum seekers had been removed this would not be happening at all.

I have never been on any kind of protest in my life but then neither had most of the Pink Ladies (from what they said on TV) they just felt this was something they had to do to keep their children and the rest of the community safe.

And so the trouble continues.

I reiterate, and no doubt sound very boring that it would be better for everyone concerned if the migrants had been moved somewhere else.

Three arrests were made last night during the ongoing protests in Epping. There is little sign of things calming down outside The Bell Hotel which is becoming a focal point in the country. Essex police are calling it a highly emotional situation. From what a resident who knows has told me, there is some controversy over a slight woman arrested by a group of police, but I haven't checked the facts.

I respect our police, I think anyone exhibiting criminal behaviour should be arrested. But it wouldn't be happening continuously and with growing fervour if the asylum seekers had been removed elsewhere.

Allira

^OK! Find some "official statistics". The statistics I posted weren't plucked from the air. There's a source.^
Exactky the same source as the link I provided, growstuff except your statistics are out of date and my link is dated August 2025.

Sorry! I'm being daft (well, it is the middle of the night), but I can't find where your link gives details of education levels.

Incidentally, I looked up the crime statistics for Braintree District Council (where Wethersfield is situated). The crime figures are about average when compared with similar places, but (curiously maybe) have decreased over the last year, when hundreds of asylum seekers have been living there. It still has one of the worst drug crime rates in Essex, but it's had that reputation in the 40+ years I've lived in the area, so it can't have anything to do with asylum seekers.

PS. I also had another very close look at the appeal judgment.

Para 38 states:

"38. The written arguments on behalf of the Home Secretary in this appeal included the contention that “the relevant public interests in play are not equal” and that one aspect
of this is that the Home Secretary’s statutory duty is a manifestation of the UK’s obligations under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. *This point
was not pursued in oral argument. Any argument in this particular context about a hierarchy of rights is in our view unattractive.* "

(My bold) The appeal judges did not accept the argument about inequality of public interests, so the people (Kemi Badenoch and Chris Philp amongst others) who claim that the injunction was set aside because migrants' interests are more important than those of residents are wrong. Nowhere in the judgment were the claimed words used.

Allira

^My friend does a number of activities with asylum seekers, including carpentry and wood-turning^

I don't doubt it. Which means that they could, under supervision, renovate and update some out-dated military quarters to make decent housing for them and others.

It just seems a sensible solution to the accommodation crisis.

I agree with you. They also have a small allotment, so they can even produce some of their own food. The point I was making was that the asylum seekers are not unskilled. I've met some of them. Some of them speak English quite well. They're polite and eager to be doing something.

My friend does a number of activities with asylum seekers, including carpentry and wood-turning

I don't doubt it. Which means that they could, under supervision, renovate and update some out-dated military quarters to make decent housing for them and others.

It just seems a sensible solution to the accommodation crisis.

OK! Find some "official statistics". The statistics I posted weren't plucked from the air. There's a source.
Exactky the same source as the link I provided, growstuff except your statistics are out of date and my link is dated August 2025.

Well, a certain poster wrote that she'd been told they are mainly uneducated and unskilled, which official stats shows just in't true.

Asylum seekers don't destroy al their paperwork. In any case, it's not difficult to tell whether somebody is educated when you've been working with them for months. Even the ones who don't have formal qualifications almost certainly have some skills. My friend does a number of activities with asylum seekers, including carpentry and wood-turning. I've seen some of the finished artefacts and they're stunning. They also organise tutorial groups amongst themselves. Some of them were teachers, musicians or worked in IT, so they teach themselves.

growstuff

Yes, asylum seekers do have lower qualifications than the UK average (but probably higher than the average on GN), but they're not mainly uneducated, as was claimed.

I wouldn’t say that they were uneducated.

I would say that it is nigh on impossible to confirm their level of education if they have destroyed their papers before crossing the channel as the people smugglers tell them to.

That’s after the HO have been able to ascertain their identity, age and from whence they have originated from.

Facts - I love them!

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

Allira

Allira

Refugees have lower qualifications and employment rates than the UK born
The data show that people who come to the UK to seek asylum tend to have lower levels of education compared to other migrants and the UK-born population (Figure 14). While around 16% hold high-level qualifications (NQF Level 6 and above), such as university degrees, a significant 30% have no formal qualifications – compared to just 8% among the UK born.
migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/migration-to-the-uk-asylum/
^The Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford provides impartial, independent, authoritative, evidence-based analysis of data on migration and migrants in the UK to inform media, public and policy debates.^

I think you may find that official statistics do not bear out your assertion, growstuff.

Could we stick to facts, not numbers plucked from the air?

OK! Find some "official statistics". The statistics I posted weren't plucked from the air. There's a source.

They're consistent from what I've been told first-hand from somebody who has actually worked with asylum seekers a few times a week for at least two years. (But, hey, it's being implied I'm a liar, so there's not much point in posting anything.)

Fire away....what should I say please?

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

Perhaps some of the newcomers may be poorly qualified but they might know the difference between Caucasian and Chinese.

Not sure when that graph was from but it is not what is in the report of August 2025.

Allira

^Refugees have lower qualifications and employment rates than the UK born^
The data show that people who come to the UK to seek asylum tend to have lower levels of education compared to other migrants and the UK-born population (Figure 14). While around 16% hold high-level qualifications (NQF Level 6 and above), such as university degrees, a significant 30% have no formal qualifications – compared to just 8% among the UK born.
migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/migration-to-the-uk-asylum/
^The Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford provides impartial, independent, authoritative, evidence-based analysis of data on migration and migrants in the UK to inform media, public and policy debates.^

I think you may find that official statistics do not bear out your assertion, growstuff.

Could we stick to facts, not numbers plucked from the air?

Primrose53

growstuff

Immigration officers have some level of security clearance and shouldn't be sharing personal information about the people they deal with. It's a sackable offence.

You said that a year ago. I told you then he is not sharing “personal” information.

It's personal if he's claiming they are unskilled and uneducated because that is private information about individuals.

In any case, he's wrong.

Just under a third have no formal qualifications, but about a third have qualifications at A level equivalent or higher (including HNC and HND level) and 16% have degree level or higher qualifications.