The leader of Derbyshire County Council has called for an immediate ban on asylum applications from Albania, as he talked frankly about failings in the current asylum system and dangers posed by potential vigilante groups.

Addressing full council in a meeting on Wednesday night (30 November), Councillor Barry Lewis said the Government needed to ‘get a grip’ on the asylum system, which was failing ‘both genuine asylum seekers and local communities’.

“This requires action to drive off criminal gangs and exploitation of vulnerable people to ensure safety and processing the real refugees that are already safely on continental European soil,” he said.

“Further action and one that could immediately be enacted would be to ban asylum applications from Albania, a country clearly not in conflict,” Coun Lewis continued, stating he would write to both the Prime Minister and Home Office minister making this appeal.

The Conservative leader was speaking in reaction to news that a second asylum contingency hotel, for those awaiting outcomes of their applications, was to be established in Erewash – bringing the county’s total to four.

“We fully appreciate the need for local authorities to play a part in supporting people genuinely seeking asylum and indeed we are already supporting through our services three existing contingency hotels,” he said.

“But when the Government notified us they are opening a second hotel in Erewash for people seeking asylum we sent a joint letter to the Home Office from the county council, Erewash Borough Council and local NHS representatives to express our concern about the disproportionate pressure this will place on public services locally.”

Coun Lewis said one of the biggest problems facing services at the moment was the number of unaccompanied children seeking asylum, many of whom have needs that are not correctly assessed by the Home Office-appointed social workers, therefore placing them at greater risk.

He continued: “We are given no funding to provide these additional services and this is creating real pressure on already stretched services.

“It is raising community tensions and community cohesion issues.”

Coun Lewis said there was an added risk from people with ‘extreme views’ who may take advantage of the challenging situation ‘to their own ends’.

“Local communities are worried, they’re anxious, and concerned, and yet fearful of being labelled as ‘racist’ by some, which creates a void in a sensible debate on such importantly-held local issues that’s been filled by right wing extreme views,” he commented.

“It is a sanitary lesson on the doubt begun by those who try to thwart free speech by a warped assessment that only their views should be held freely, expressed or count.”

The leader said it was unacceptable that councils should have no say in the location of contingency hotels and called for the Home Office to consult with local authorities prior to making such decisions.   

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