Reform council blasted over determined £150,000 stunt for ‘operatives’ to observe migrants
Essex County Council said the ‘operatives’ would be sent to town and city centres in Braintree, Colchester and Chelmsford where migrants can visit from a nearby accommodation centre
Wethersfield, a former airbase in Essex, has been used to house asylum seekers since 2023(Image: PA)
A Reform-led council has been accused of a desperate stunt over plans to spend £150,000 to deploy security guards to monitor asylum seekers.
Essex County Council said the “operatives” would be sent to town and city centres in Braintree, Colchester and Chelmsford where migrants can visit from a nearby accommodation centre.
MDP Wethersfield, a former airbase near Halstead in north Essex, has been used to house single male migrants since 2023. Numbers of people at the site are expected to grow from 800 to 1,220 as the Government pushes to end the costly use of asylum hotels to house migrants.
But the move was quickly exposed as hollow as private security guards will have no more power than ordinary members of the public, and law enforcement will still need to be led by police.
Essex council claimed there was “anecdotal evidence” that “the presence of this community of asylum seekers creates a fear and perception of a risk of crime”. The Home Office said there was no evidence of increased offending levels in town centres as a result of the people staying there.
Labour accused Reform of fuelling division and dismissed the move as a bid to “waste public money on gesture politics”. A party spokeswoman said: “This looks like yet another stunt from Reform – spending £150,000 of taxpayers’ money on a headline-grabbing scheme that their own paper admits gives private guards no more powers than any member of the public.
“People deserve to feel safe in their communities with proper neighbourhood policing and serious action on antisocial behaviour – not by using public money for political theatre. This is what Reform do in power – chase stunts, fuel division and waste public money on gesture politics.”
Liberal Democrat MP for Chelmsford Marie Goldman said: “Instead of stoking division in our community and handing over wads of taxpayer cash to a private security company, Reform UK should be giving the much needed resource to our local police force who are fully trained and have the power to enforce the law.
“We have a system of policing by consent in this country, and the public will be rightly concerned to see Reform handing their money over to an unaccountable private security firm to monitor the area.
“Essex Police are already under funding pressure, and we should be equipping them with the much needed resources to continue doing their job protecting the local community.”
Council leader Peter Harris said the induction process at the site was “woefully inadequate”, especially on the introduction to British culture and “expectations we have of acceptable behaviour toward to women and girls”.
He added: “Concerns for community safety are clearly there, particularly among women and girls, because of the daily gatherings of asylum seekers – gatherings which will increase in number and size as the facility expands.”
The county council said it was in the process of contracting a security company.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We are closing every asylum hotel and moving asylum seekers into alternative accommodation, including former military sites.
“We are working to fairly house asylum seekers across the country, engaging with local authorities to reduce the impact on communities. And we are reducing the burden on taxpayers, with asylum costs down by over £1 billion since the general election.”
