Labour’s Border Security Minister Angela Eagle pointed out both the Conservatives and Reform UK had voted against Labour’s tough border security bill at second reading
Tories and Reform accused of “playing politics with our borders” as police and protesters clashed in demonstrations against hotels housing asylum seekers across the UK.
Demonstrations under the Abolish Asylum System slogan were being held in major towns and cities around England, including Bristol, Exeter, Tamworth, Cannock, Nuneaton, Liverpool, Wakefield, Newcastle, Horley in Surrey and Canary Wharf in central London.
Aberdeen and Perth in Scotland and Mold in Flintshire, Wales, were also holding protests. Pointing the finger at the Tories and Reform over an “immigration system in chaos”, Labour’s Border Security Minister Angela Eagle pointed out both parties had voted against Labour’s tough border security bill.
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Speaking to The Sunday Mirror, she said: “The Tories are the architects of this unprecedented failure. Yet even now, they refuse to take responsibility or support efforts to fix the mess they created. Both the Tories and Reform are playing politics with our borders.
“While they talk tough on immigration, both parties tried to block Labour’s plans to end the asylum hotel crisis, including our reforms to streamline the appeals system, and even measures to block sex offenders from getting asylum in the UK. If the Tories and Reform were serious about tackling illegal migration, they would back the decisive action this government is taking to restore order and end the use of hotels to house asylum seekers – a direct legacy of Tory failure.”
It comes on a day that also saw a separate batch of protests organised by Stand Up to Racism in Bristol, Cannock, Leicester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Wakefield, Horley and Long Eaton in Derbyshire. Police struggled to contain the flag-wearing anti-immigration protesters who chanted “paedo” as anti-racism protesters were shepherded away.
From just after 12pm until around 1.30pm the atmosphere remained tense as officers kept the two groups apart in Horley, West Sussex.
In Bristol, mounted police were brought in to separate rival groups in the Castle Park, with officers scuffling with protesters.
In Horley, around 200 anti-immigration protesters draped in St George and Union flags clashed with roughly 50 Stand Up to Racism protesters in Bonehurst Road.
The anti-racism protesters chanted “say it loud, say it clear, refugees are welcome here”, and held signs calling for solidarity and to “stop deportations”. They were met with a torrent of abuse from the anti-migration group, one of whom yelled through a megaphone “you’re all scum and you should be ashamed” and “this wasn’t about racism”.
On Tuesday, the High Court granted Epping Forest District Council a temporary injunction to remove asylum seekers from the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, from September 12. Regular protests had been held outside the hotel in recent weeks after an asylum seeker was charged with trying to kiss a 14-year-old girl, which he denies.
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