Green Party activists and councillors were amongst the people counter-protesting at an anti-immigration protest on Thursday 21 August outside the Fownes Hotel.
Green Group Co-leader Alex Mace said the following to this:
“The Conservative and Labour Governments have wasted millions of pounds failing to solve the backlog of asylum applications and created a system that works for no one. Refugees are trapped for months and years in hotels at great expense, unable to work and given the bare minimum to live. The British taxpayer gets incredibly poor value for money, while charlatans and fascists exploit the mess and intimidate the most desperate people. The people, and they are people, in Fownes Hotel are welcome in our country and I am proud to stand with them. If you are angry that they are there, take it up with the Government. Write to your local councillor, write to your MP. We must process the backlog. We must tackle the housing crisis, that is causing so much anger – the Government spends £20 billion a year on housing British people in rented accommodation, but won’t fund councils like ours to build its own accommodation. No more paying to delay, ignore and distract”