Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has been told to “get a grip” on Britain’s migrant crisis after protests erupted outside a migrant hotel in Epping.
Speaking to GB News, Conservative MP for Epping Forest Neil Hudson urged the Government to “act soon” as he declared the issue is “getting out of hand”.
Migrant protests were sparked in the Essex town after 38-year-old Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu was accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl, just days after arriving in the UK.
The asylum seeker has denied the offences and has been remanded in custody ahead of a two-day trial next month.
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Epping MP Neil Hudson has demanded Yvette Cooper to ‘get a grip’ on the migrant crisis after hotel protests
Criticising Labour’s decision to reopen the migrant hotel, the representative for Epping told GB News: “We have an asylum hotel in this constituency that the previous Government was able to close in April of last year.
“The Labour Government has, against all the advice, opened this hotel up, and now we’ve had these alleged sexual assaults last week that have really upset the local community.”
Stating that the hotel is “not in the right place” in the community, Hudson added: “I know very much that there are church groups and local community groups that are looking out for these vulnerable people, but this hotel is not in the right place.
“It’s not being adequately resourced, I’ve had urgent meetings with the Home Office raising accountability issues and safeguarding issues, I’ve called for an urgent meeting with the Home Secretary, and we’re calling for this hotel to be immediately closed so that our community can be safe and we can make sure that the Epping can get back to normal.”
Directly calling on the Government to “get a grip on the issue”, Hudson fumed: “We’ve got to put pressure on this Labour Government, who came into office saying that they were going to smash the gangs and address this issue, but on their watch, the small boat crossings have gone up by about 48 per cent.
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Locals in Epping gathered outside the Bell Hotel to protest following the recent alleged incidents
He told GB News: “If these hotels are in the wrong place and people are being allegedly assaulted, we have local communities really, really struggling and distressed for community safety and cohesion.
“I’m urging the Home Secretary, the Home Office, to get a grip of this issue, to close this hotel instantly and actually get a grip on this asylum situation, because they are letting it get out of hand and it’s making it a risk for local communities.”
Highlighting the impact the hotel and subsequent protests are having on the community, Hudson revealed that he has been contacted by several “distressed” and “fearful” constituents about the recent unrest.
He explained: “I have very distressed constituents, very upset constituents who are very nervous, very frightened. They’re wanting their town to go back to how it was, and we need to make sure that these external influences are stopped. We have mums and dads, we have grandparents, we have a school nearby as well, people are genuinely very, very upset and fearful.”
Condemning the violence at the protests from “outside influences”, Hudson urged those travelling to Epping specifically to “whip up” unrest at the demonstrations to “stay away”.
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Hudson told GB News
Hudson said: “People have a right to peaceful protest and make their point, and the police are very happy to facilitate that and make sure that goes off peacefully, but if people come from outside deliberately to cause violence and mayhem, they should stay away firmly.
“These people need to stay away from our small community. We are a small, close knit town. Violence like this has no place, and this is this is not Epping, this is not what we stand for.
“And as you can imagine, tensions are running high, but last night, what we saw was people coming in from outside Epping very much wanting to have a violent reaction. And thank you so much to the police who in protests like this, they put themselves in harm’s way to keep us safe.
“I’m urging our community to stay focused and united and calm. We have people from outside trying to whip this up and cause violence and attacking the police who are trying to keep us safe.”
Chief Superintendent at Essex Police Simon Anslow said in a statement: “Disruption and offending is never an appropriate response, no matter the strength of feeling in this case, and on this issue.
“People protesting peacefully, lawfully and responsibly cause us, and the wider public, no concern.However, we can never, and will never, tolerate criminal behaviour of any sort and anyone identified as committing crime will be dealt with robustly.”