yorkshire village
Villagers in Linton-on-Ouse are seething that they were not consulted about plans to accommodate asylum seekers at a decommissioned airbase in the middle of the village before the announcement last week. (Village seen right while left, the disused RAF airbase)
Priti Patel was accused of 'dropping a bomb' on rural Yorkshire last night after villagers learned they face being outnumbered by young male asylum seekers.

Residents in the 1,000-strong community of Linton-on-Ouse, near York, are seething after discovering their disused RAF airbase will soon house 1,500 young men seeking refuge in Britain, mostly from Iraq, Iran and Syria.


Comment: Unsurprisingly these are countries the UK has been helping to destroy in its wars on the Middle East. And now we see the same happening in Ukraine.


At a heated parish council meeting on Thursday, they said house prices in the area had already crashed, with some homeowners being pushed into negative equity and unable to move out.

asylum seeker refugee migrants
Villagers were stunned to be told the new processing centre will accommodate 1,500 asylum seekers (Pictured: Migrants arriving at Dover this week)

Comment: Note in the picture above, and as is the case more often than not, these asylum seekers flooding the country are predominantly young, unemployed males from a significantly different culture. This is quite obviously a recipe for disaster. The government and its team of experts are surely aware of this, and so what does this say about the government?


Some 120 villagers voiced their frustration in a showdown with senior Home Office officials over the scheme - saying they were not consulted about the plans before they were announced last week.

They were stunned to be told the new processing centre will accommodate 1,500 young men - and possibly more if refugees continue to cross the Channel in unprecedented numbers.

Hambleton District Councillor Martin Taylor said the impact of the influx would also be felt in surrounding rural communities.

He told the Home Office team, led by Phil Riley, the Home Office's director of immigration detention and escorting services: 'You have dropped a bomb on this village and the wider community and its totally unacceptable.'

He pledged to consider every way of reversing the decision, including possibly funding a judicial review, but Hambleton Council would first need to look at the facts.

'We have been ambushed - just like you,' he told the meeting.

Locals also felt powerless to move out, as local house prices were already collapsing.

One woman stormed: 'Nobody is going to buy anything around here. It sounds like a done deal - and it's an absolute disgrace.'

Home Office bigwigs also made clear that the refugees will be free to come and go provided they observe a nightly curfew.

They admitted there was nothing to stop them getting on a bus and disappearing - although they could do that now from bed and breakfast accommodation and it would wreck their asylum hopes.

But Patel's team could do nothing to allay some residents' fears over safety.

Priti Patel
Home Secretary Priti Patel (pictured) was accused of 'dropping a bomb' on Linton-on-Ouse by one local councillor
The three-hour meeting was punctuated by jeers, groans, and shouting as the residents vented their frustration.

One woman told the crowd: 'I have lived in an area of Hull where these people were being housed and it got to the point where you dare not go out on your own.'

While the officials assured her that her fears were unfounded, they were shared by others present.


Comment: These fears have been proven right by the previous immigration programs, and common sense is all that's required to know the devastating impact this will have on the area.


'We moved here for the village life. Now my family is going to be prisoners in their own home while everyone else can roam about doing what they like.'

At present, the village is policed by a community policing team. North Yorkshire Police will beef up cover but insist they must adopt a measured approach and see what problems occur.

Villagers emerged from the meeting saying nothing had been said during the three hours that had reassured them in any way whatsoever.

Homeowner Greg Cox, 47, said: 'They have sent the monkeys to answer the questions rather than the organ grinder.

'The average age in the village is about 40. There is nowt here. They have depended on the air base for the economy.'

A record 28,395 migrants reached the UK illegally last year by taking small boats across the Channel, a 200 per cent increase on 2020's tally.
uk migrants chart uk year
Taff Morgan, 67, said: 'What's at stake is our way of life in the village. The Home Office need to got back and say 'We have made a mistake'.'

'We have had weasel words from those in power. I am not racist. But this is just so wrong for this village. It is incredible how they have done this.'

Karen Cox, 51, said: 'We are losing our freedom by them coming here. It just feels so underhand how they have gone about it.

'Why can't they send someone here who can answer our questions? Why don't they send Priti Patel?'

In a tweet on Wednesday local MP Kevin Hollinrake said he had demanded the asylum seeker plan be reversed in a letter to Priti Patel.

It comes as the former head of then UK's Border Force told the Mail that 100,000 Channel migrants will reach Britain this year.

army base housing accomodation
Houses at the base have been left abandoned since it closed, and are set to be used to house asylum seekers under the new plans
Former director general of UK Border Force Tony Smith said: 'There comes a point where we need to get a grip of our border and stop the boats.

'That's going to be over 100,000 this year just by migrant boats alone.'


Comment: This is the same government that claims to care about the migrants of Ukraine; if they don't care about their own citizens, why on earth would anybody believe they care about refugees?


Mr Smith's prediction would be nearly 12 times the level seen in 2020, 54 times that of 2019 and more than 300 times that in 2018.

So far this year 6,693 migrants have reached the UK across the Channel - four times that seen by the same point last year.

There were 651 arrivals last Wednesday, a level not seen last year until the calm summer months.

In January, it emerged that the Home Office had produced official papers warning that 65,000 migrants could cross this year.

The number of crossings has since outstripped this.

A spokesperson for Home Office said 'we do not recognise these figures', while the Government announced its Rwanda scheme last week.

'Last week, the Government announced a series of measures to overhaul our broken asylum system and through our Nationality and Borders Bill we are clamping down on illegal migration, including dangerous channel crossings which places vulnerable people at the mercy of evil people smugglers,' they said.


Comment: The numbers prove that the Home Office is lying.


Mr Smith praised the controversial scheme, which will see asylum seekers sent to the east African country to claim refugee status.


Comment: The scheme mentioned is to send some of these migrants to Rwanda, Africa...


He said: 'I think it's a bold attempt by the government to stop the boats.

'We have to stop the boats - people are drowning and people are going to drown.

'The problem the government has is the French won't accept people back, nor will the EU, so the migrants know that simply by paying £5,000 and getting in a small boat, getting into the English territorial waters, they're essentially in the UK.

'So the Government is right to look at alternatives. We need to find countries that are prepared to take people.

'If Rwanda is a safe country, which is offering them protection and a new life, if it means they don't have to go back to the country they fear persecution from, then this is an alternative to having more and more people coming across the Channel and drowning.'

It has been roundly criticised though by members of all parties in the House of Commons, including former Prime Minister Theresa May who questioned how effective the £120 million scheme would be.

'From what I have heard and seen so far of this policy, I do not support the removal to Rwanda policy on the grounds of legality, practical and efficacy,' she said in Parliament.

She asked Ms Patel: 'If it is the case that families will not be broken up... does she not believe, and where is her evidence, that this will not simply lead in an increase in the trafficking of women and children?'

In response, the Home Secretary stressed the Rwanda plan 'is legal' but declined to comment on who or who wouldn't be eligible for removal from the UK.

She said Mrs May 'would know very well that it's that type of criteria that is used by the smuggling gangs to then effectively exploit various loopholes'.