- Home secretary Shabana Mahmood has condemned anti-migrant activist Daniel Thomas as a far-right and outright racist, warning that he or his supporters will face the full force of the law if they commit crimes near asylum sites.
- Thomas, a convicted criminal and co-founder of The Patriot Platform, threatened that up to 5,000 men could surround a proposed asylum facility in the Oxfordshire village of Piddington for days to block male asylum seekers from entering.
- The activist's threats follow a symbolic referendum in Piddington, where local residents voted overwhelmingly to reject government plans to accommodate 1,256 male asylum seekers at a nearby former military base.
- Mahmood emphasised the need to distinguish between the legitimate anxieties of local residents concerning community changes and far-right extremists who are hijacking those fears to divide communities.
- Reassuring the local community, the home secretary explained that self-contained accommodation sites offering on-site facilities are the most effective way to manage knock-on pressures on surrounding areas.
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