Chris Whitbread is leader of Eping
Forest District Council and joins me
now. Councelor, good to have you on.
Thank you for your time, sir. How do you
react to what we're hearing from
yesterday? Morning.
>> Uh, thanks, Nick. My my first first
thoughts yesterday were how annoyed I
was at the government saying asylum
seekers trump my my residents in Eping
Forest. And schools go back next week.
And I've got worried parents um because
of what happened previously. And I just
don't think the government is taken us
to court again, taken us back to court
again on what was a good judgment by the
last week for for the people of Eping.
They've taken us back to court and
they've they should be spending their
time finding a plan to deal with the
asylum problem.
>> Council, I know it's not your worry, but
if you don't want them in the Bell Hotel
and other hotels up and down the land,
where are these folk to go? Well, that
is the government's responsibility and I
accept that places have to pay their
part. Within three miles of the Bell
Hotel, we have another hotel being used
as well. Um, we are we're concentrating
on the Bell at the present time because
it's right in the heart of a community
close to five schools, residential
properties, and it's causing chaos.
While I haven't been there lately, I do
know Eping. If I were to go to your town
counselor and to ask the reaction to
what we heard in the courts yesterday,
what we heard from a government
department saying that the migrants
rights outweigh those of your council
taxpayers. What do you imagine I'd hear?
>> You would hear exactly what you've just
heard from me. Um, if they care about
Eping and its people, then you have to
want the Bell Hotel closed. It's just in
the wrong location. I know my working
with my daughter and my colleague Holly
Whipbread, we both stand in exactly the
same position on this. We we believe
that the hotel should never have been
used in the first place. We were very
clear with the previous government.
Eventually, they shut it. We we're just
as clear with this government, although
they just don't want to listen. I I have
to tell you, Nick, my my only
conversation with Home Office officials
ended with them saying I was being too
political for by arguing this.
>> What did What? You're a conservative
council, are you councelor?
>> Absolutely.
>> So they're suggesting this is this isn't
as I would make the point you're
probably doing this for the interests of
your your council taxpayers. They're
saying you're doing it because you're
conservative roughly. Is that what you
think?
>> I I I think that's part of it, but I
think it's more the government have
politicized this now by saying asylum
seekers trump residents and just not
acceptable. You know, I grew up in
Eping. Eping is my hometown and it's
horrible to see what what's been going
on over recent weeks. Absolutely
horrible. you know, it's changed the
whole atmosphere of the town at the
present time. We will get it back to
what it was, but this really has broken
community cohesion and it's the
government's fault.
>> Um, last couple of questions. If the
court of appeals finds against you,
councelor, what happens then?
>> We will be meeting this afternoon to
think of the next ways forward.
>> Okay.
>> But we won't give up the fight. We won't
give up the fight. Lastly, and I stress
to my listeners, you're the leader of
Eping Forest District Council, but what
do you make of the story this morning
that Essex County Council, again, not
your council, is offering support to
staff who feel, and I quote, unsettled
by St. George's flags erected in Eping
and other parts of the county. The
county, the county councils tells
workers in an email, it could evoke
feelings of discomfort and may be
associated with anti-immigration
rhetoric. Councelor
>> Nick, I I'll I'll be talking to county
counselors later on. I'm a county
councelor myself. It's the first I've
heard of it this morning and I I think
um we will be I will be looking at that
myself later on.
>> All right. Do you feel unsettled when
you see the flag of St. George?
>> When I see our flag, I feel proud.
>> Thank you for your time and listening.
Jacqueline McKenzie, who's head of
immigration and asylum Lee Day
Solicitors regularly helps us with
matters such as these. What do you
think? What justice should prevail in
your view? Good morning.
Uh good morning Nick. Um justice what in
terms of the out
>> the Eping district the Eping hotel
decision.
>> Well um you it was interesting because
you started off by saying that uh the
government's argument is that uh asylum
seekers have more rights than other
people and I don't know the full context
of that but rights are universal. no one
group has more rights than the other and
I think that's the starting point but if
we look at Eping specifically
um where if there are conflicts what we
have to analyze is what exactly does
that mean whose rights in Epin are being
trampled now there's been a lot of
discussion about safety and uh the
councelor just now the leader of uh epid
forest district council spoke about
safety um we understand that what's
caused the concern concern has been the
arrest of one man who's rightfully going
through the due process of the criminal
justice system. But I also find in the
Ministry of Justice data that there were
30 to 46 sexual offenses in Epin and 308
violence uh violent offenses in Epin. So
Epin obviously has an issue with
violence, but yet they've picked up on
this one case as a reason for displacing
asylum seekers. I I haven't quite
understood that. But the heart of it is
uh Edward Brown who is a KC acting for
the home office told the court and I
quote the relevant public interests in
play are not equal. Thus migrants rights
outweigh those of the local taxpayers.
You can't support that position can you?
>> Well well as I said rights are universal
but sometimes they conflict. And when
they conflict we have to pick it apart.
What does it actually mean? And so whose
rights in Epin are being affected by the
asylum seekers being that's not been
explained.
>> Well, the mothers, fathers,
grandparents, uncles and aunts who fear
that their ch who fear, I stress, their
children could be at risk.
>> But is that is is that a real fear?
Because they've got
>> Well, I ask them. I I sense it is with
respect, Mackenzie.
>> The data shows that there have been 308
violent and sexual offenses in that
burough and they've picked upon the case
of one man. So, is this really a genuine
fair? Is it political? I understand a
lot of the people protesting outside the
Epin Hotel are coming in from outside
the area.
>> Well, the people of Epin can't help
that, of course.
>> No, of course not. But that's right. But
what do the people of Epin um really
think about this? I think that's the
thing. And then of course the
government's got a real problem here
because if the case goes in favor of
Eping Council today, what are they going
to do with the what is this 138 people I
believe were ordered out uh by Justice
Heir by the 12th and what do they do
with the other 30 odd thousand people
who are in hotel?
>> That's the government that's the
government's issue, isn't it,
Jacqueline?
>> Well, it's it's the government's issue,
but it's all of our issue because, you
know, they've got to be put somewhere.
The law requires that. Not just article
3, but our own domestic laws require
that uh asylum seekers are housed
somewhere.
>> Grateful for your time today. Thank you,
Jacqueline McKenzie, head of immigration
and asylum law at the firm Lee