'Safeguards-on-asylum-seekers' Reform council voted down

Even his seconder had second thoughts

A Devon councillor who sparked a heated debate on immigration says he did so because people are afraid to talk about the subject.

Stephen Horner is the only Reform member of Teignbridge Council, having been elected in Teignmouth West at a by-election in May.

He was the only person to vote in favour of his own motion calling for ‘safeguards’ on asylum seekers coming to Devon. Thirty four councillors voted against him, including his own seconder.

Protesters greeted councillors as they went into Forde House for the meeting, one saying: “This feels like what happened in Nazi Germany.”

Liberal Democrat, Conservative and Independent councillors said the motion was ‘political posturing’ and went against British values, but Cllr Horner said he had no regrets.

“It went exactly as I thought it would,” he said. “It was important to get the debate out into the public domain.

“You know, you have to be realistic. Just to bury our heads in the sand about it and say ‘crisis, what crisis?’ is a mistake, and it’s why people are getting very angry. It’s because they’re not being listened to.”

He said despite the overwhelming vote against his motion, he would continue to monitor the issue.

Protesters in the public gallery applauded the councillors who spoke out against Cllr Horner’s motion, and those who later supported a motion welcoming the contribution made by immigrants to communities across Teignbridge.

“We’re a country built on immigration,” said protester Virginia Turbett. “My son moved to Australia because he wanted a better life, and we all assume that we can travel for a better life and that people come here to seek a better life. Why not?

“We’ve got resources, we can share our resources. We expect to go elsewhere and share other people’s resources for a better life.”

She said it was time to counter the narrative that immigration was bad for the country.

“That’s not true,” she said. “It’s simply a diversion from the real issues, which are the asset-stripping of the British economy by the top one per cent.

“I met a woman a couple of days ago who works as a carer, who gets abuse on her way to and from her work in a care home now. This is happening in Devon, in South Devon, in rural Devon.

“This is just not acceptable, and this is not who we are.”