Reform UK’s First “Victory” in Durham? Not Quite.
Reform UK now control Durham County Council, following the most recent round of local elections. They replaced a lacklustre Conservative-Lib Dem coalition — hardly a high bar to clear. Many of the wards that swung to Reform were Labour strongholds until 2015.
Reform have already claimed their first major victory: stopping the acquisition of new asylum seeker accommodation in County Durham by the Home Office’s contractor, Mears Group.
But this isn’t quite the whole story
The decision to pause new asylum housing wasn’t made by Reform Councillors or Durham County Council. It was made by the Home Office — under the current Labour government. Asylum seeker accommodation and support are commissioned centrally, not by local councils. Council’s just don’t make these decisions.
Not that this has stopped the myth from spreading widely on social media.
This isn ‘t the first time that people have questioned whether the new set of Reform Councillors are being wholly honest with voter. Remember, asylum seekers make up less than 0.1% of the County’s population.
Most of the people furious about “illegals” — as they like to call them — have never met one, and probably never will. But they’re so steeped in online misinformation that they assume any black or brown face must be an asylum seeker, and that they’re being put up at public expense.
After Sunderland’s triumphant return to the Premier League, I got chatting to a fellow fan who despaired at the number of asylum seekers housed in the city over the last five or six years. Mostly under 25, mostly male, all with the latest phones, MacBooks, designer clothes, nice apartments and plenty of disposable income — and all, apparently, funded by the taxpayer.
I gently suggested that this influx of well-heeled young men might have something to do with the opening of Sunderland’s new medical school and the expansion of the university — which has actively recruited international students to boost its income. Many are likely paying tens of thousands a year to be here.
But he wasn’t having it. He’d read online about evil hordes of asylum seekers swarming over here, and every non-white face he saw just reinforced the narrative.
It might be that this is a new bunch of councillors are still coming to terms with their powers and responsibilities. Or might be that the new administration in Durham County Council are prioritising get clicks and likes and shares on social media over actually doing their job.
Time will tell.
But in the meantime my bins still haven’t been emptied.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/33/section/95