Town Councillor Who Asked Questions About 300 Migrants in a Hotel is “Reported to Police” for “Stirring Up Racial Hatred”
Town councillor John Edwards, who asked questions about 300 Afghans put up in a local hotel, was “reported to police for stirring up racial hatred”, and has also been placed under “investigation” by a “monitoring officer” at Bracknell Forest Council in Berkshire. The Mail has the story.
The elected councillor began asking questions in April, questioning whether the large number of new arrivals would affect local residents on the housing waiting list.
But instead of getting answers, Councillor Edwards said he was accused of “inciting” hate and spreading “misinformation” against an ethnic group.
The Free Speech Union has now taken up his case, calling it a “chilling” example of democracy being suppressed.
It has since been revealed there was a huge official cover-up with the Government obtaining a super-injunction to stop the public finding out it had a secret immigration scheme for thousands of Afghans.
The Mail revealed that, while the public was being kept in the dark, ministers were being warned in private their scheme risked “significant integration considerations” including with housing and local services such as education and healthcare.
But when Councillor Edwards – an independent member of nearby Sandhurst Town Council – began asking Bracknell’s borough council a series of questions, he was reported to police by a borough councillor.
He wrote a post on Facebook on April 9th saying: “First of all, I want to make clear that everyone arriving on this scheme must be treated with dignity and respect. This is in no way blaming them, and they should be made to feel welcome.”
He went on to question the fairness of the scheme and whether it would have any impact on local residents waiting for housing or other services, pointing out that “many of our own veterans remain homeless”.
A Labour councillor on the Labour-controlled Bracknell Forest Council wrote on a Facebook community group it was “far Right propaganda” and added: “This has all been reported to the MOD, council and local police.”
Councillor Edwards – who never heard from the police – told the Mail: “The council has fuelled a narrative that I’m spreading hate and misinformation — despite my claims being true.
“Another councillor has said publicly they have reported me to the police for ‘stirring racial hatred’. This would be a serious criminal offence. It’s stressful, it’s potentially very harmful to my reputation.
“It’s a way to smear and silence me, and it has a chilling effect which amounts to, ‘disagree with the council and you will be call a racist’.”
Worth reading in full.
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This has got to stop. Councilors are entitled to ask questions, he’s doing his job. If the police think that is illegal, they must bring charges. I would plead not guilty and go to Crown Court. I doubt they will. The complainer should be sacked.
These councillors need to be named, shamed and sued for defamation.
And banned for life from holding public office.
One of the things that the Ministerium fur Staatssicherheit (Stasi) in East Germany found so easy to set up was the system whereby neighbours would report on neighbours, family members on each other, work colleagues; they didn’t even have to pay them, people were queueing up to inform on each other. There is a strata of the English which seems almost to have a Teutonic propensity for snitching so we shouldn’t be too surprised at this sort of despicable behaviour – indeed, councils seem to be brimming with petty-minded, grasping little busybodies who are never happier than when they are making the world a little worse, a little more miserable for the rest of us.
Stasi Mitarbeiter – all volunteers (allegedly).
I’m sure they were all volunteers because people knew how important it was to be in the state’s good books. If nothing else it would help people escape harsh punishments if they ended up being snitched on, and possibly help them get promotion at work or other favours. This might be why however it was reported the councillor, they, probably correctly, think it’ll improve their standing among like minded councillors.
Not really. The MfS would contact people they’d like to recruit as IMs (inoffzielle Mitarbeiter, irregular contributors) and beside various perks, eg, easier access to rare consumer good like cars, rejecting such an offer obviously didn’t exactly communicate one’s dedication to the Marxist-Leninist cause.
During lockdowns it seemed like the majority of people would be happy to snitch on people.
Mustn’t ask questions; nobody is allowed to diverge from the image of perfect harmony of a vibrant multicultural society.
Just in case anyone needed a reminder, never vote for the Conservatives, Labour or the L/Dums ever again. They are have been doing everything in their collective powers to harm the UK population.
This stirring up racial hatred legislation needs to be repealed, and new legislation to prevent the police recording non crime hate incidents.
Race Relations Act 1965, the rot had really started to set in.
The police should have enumerated powers only, any power not explicitly granted to them, they don’t have. Same with government.
Immaterial crimes simply shouldn’t exist. What precisely is racial hatred, how does one precisely determine that it got stirred up and why should hatred be a crime to begin with? Especially in a country like the UK where all inhabitants are united in the mutual dislike for each other, Northerners are all weirdo aliens, Southerners are all extremely impolite dolts, the Welsh are all sheep-shaggers etc. Why should “extreme dislike for members of group X” be a crime on its own, ie, without any real-world actions beyond talking in a certain way being caused by that?
Totally agree.
It seems to me that the Race Relations Act was a useful first step in a series of measures designed to cover up the fact that importing millions of aliens was not what most people wanted or enjoyed, a first step in blaming the victims. The establishment has carried on from there. And of course there are all the bien pensant useful idiots who don’t like anyone saying beastly things, who are happy for beastliness to be banned.
John Edwards is yet another casualty of broken Britain, where the political class have evidently turned against the people and continue to turn the screws, such is their obvious disdain for ordinary folk who oppose their policies.
A good review of what’s been going down in recent days;
”The last few days have exposed some of the most disturbing responses yet from our political establishment and authorities—triggered by growing backlash over immigration, crime, the economy, and the erosion of free speech.
In Norfolk, police detained activist and journalist James Harvey, who attended a separate protest at the Brooke Hotel in Norwich. His alleged offence? Saying “foreign filth” during a speech.
Harvey was held for 14 hours on Saturday. Police searched his home, reportedly seizing phones, laptops, and notepads.
Reports vaguely state he’s been charged with “racial aggravation”. If they’re charging him with “stirring up racial hatred” under the Public Order Act 1986, he could face a prison sentence of up to 7 years.
Meanwhile, with anti-mass immigration protests spreading to Bournemouth, Portsmouth, Norwich, Leeds, Wolverhampton, and even Canary Wharf, the government formed a new policy.”
https://news.starknakedbrief.co.uk/p/a-country-in-painessential-updates
This Councillor would be well advised to stop being an Independent and instead join the Reform Party.
What’ the name of the Labour councillor?
Perhaps the Government would like to place some Migrants in the homes of those two very worthy councillors, more people like these virtuous souls offering their homes and their hospitatility to ilegal migrants, for which I assume they are happy to pay and take responsibility, they will be doing the tax payer a great service, by allowing homes to be freed up for the British population, by personally caring for these young migrant men, and by paying for their care thus releasing the Government to use our taxes elsewhere.
Well done these two Councillor heroes, please can you let us know when they are bringing these poor Afghanis into their families, I am sure we would all like to thank them.
This must be fake news. Didn’t Starmer tell Donald yesterday that we have free speech in this country and he’s proud of it?
Was he the one sat there like a ventriloquist’s dummy?