𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

A Reform UK council has announced it will be funding security teams to patrol towns in Essex near an asylum seeker accommodation centre. Essex County Council said it will be the first to launch such patrols in Braintree, Chelmsford and Colchester, due to its concerns about a former airbase in Wethersfield, which is now the temporary home of about 800 migrants, all men aged between 18 and 65.

Russel Quirk, Reform UK councillor for Hutton and deputy leader of Essex County Council, said it would immediately launch ‘Operation Vanguard’ to protect residents after successive Governements “failed to secure our borders”. He wrote on X: “We are immediately funding security teams in Braintree, Chelmsford and Colchester to provide a visible presence and deterrence in areas where migrants from #Wethersfield asylum centre are bussed every day.”

He continued: “We are the first council in Britain to do this. It’s time that #Essex was properly protected from successive failing governments who have failed to secure our borders.”

While the Home Office previously acknowledged people were concerned about crime levels, it said there was “no evidence” the men disproportionately affect levels of crime or anti-social behaviour. Everyone brought into Wethersfield is screened against policing, security and immigration databases.

Earlier this week during a tour of the site, Reform UK’s Peter Harris, who leads the council, said he was concerned by the frequent shuttle bus service to the three towns which are now earmarked for security patrols.

“We don’t know who these gentlemen are, where they’ve come from, what their intentions are – and they are free to roam our towns,” Harris told the BBC. “It is extremely worrying to me.”

Harris said he will call on Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to close the site, or stop the minibuses.

In June, it was confirmed that the number of residents at the site would increase to 1,245 and it would remain open beyond 2027.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We are closing every asylum hotel and moving asylum seekers into alternative accommodation, including former military sites. The number receiving support is now falling, with asylum costs down by £1billion since the general election.”