Rayner: We must tackle profound impact of migration

Telegraph

5 days ago

Angela Rayner has vowed to tackle the 'profound impact' of immigration ahead of fears of another summer of riots.
Ms Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister, said ministers must accept ' the real concerns that people have ' following record levels of net migration in recent years.
It comes as Downing Street refused to say whether Sir Keir Starmer feared another summer of riots after anti-migrant protests in Epping, a town in Essex, turned violent last week.
Ms Rayner was speaking ahead of the first anniversary of the wake of the killings of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport on Jul 29 last year.
The unrest came in the wake of false online rumours that the killer arrived in Britain by small boat amid delays in publicly naming Axel Rudakubana, who was 17 at the time of the attack.
It later emerged that Rudakubana was referred to Prevent three times, but authorities previously decided not to charge him with terror offences. He was sentenced to life in prison in January with a minimum term of 52 years.
In a readout of Tuesday's Cabinet meeting, the Prime Minister's official spokesman said: 'The Deputy Prime Minister said that economic security, the rapid pace of de-industrialisation, immigration and the impact on local communities and public services, technological change in the amount of time people were spending alone online, and declining trust in institutions was having a profound impact on society.
'She said it was incumbent on the government to acknowledge the real concerns people have and to deliver improvements to people's lives and their communities. She said 17 of the 18 places that saw the worst of the disorder last summer ranked at the top of the most deprived.
'And while Britain was a successful multi-ethnic, multi-faith country, the government had to show it had a plan to address people's concerns and provide opportunities for everyone to flourish.
'She said as part of this the upcoming Plan for Neighbourhoods would deliver billions of pounds of investment over 10 years and hundreds of the most deprived places to restore pride in people's local areas and improve people's lives.'
The Prime Minister's official spokesman was then asked whether he was concerned about further disorder this summer.
He replied: 'He's focused on taking action to ensure that we address people's concerns, people's very legitimate concerns.
'And we start by acknowledging that those concerns are legitimate and we start by dealing with the underlying causes of those concerns.'
More than 100 demonstrators descended on the Bell Hotel in Epping, which is believed to house asylum seekers, on Sunday evening, chanting 'save our kids' and holding placards that read: 'I'm not far-Right, I'm worried about my kids.'
Essex Police said six people had been arrested, including a 17-year-old male on suspicion of causing criminal damage to a police car.
The demonstration was among protests outside the hotel since Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, a 38-year-old asylum seeker, was charged with sexual assault on a 14-year-old girl.
Kebatu denied the charge when he appeared at Chelmsford magistrates' court last week.
On whether there were any plans to close the asylum hotel in Epping, the Prime Minister's official spokesman said: 'When it comes to asylum hotels, we are committed to ending the use of costly asylum hotels.
'We saw that peak under the previous government, around 400 hotels being used, we're now at just over 200 with more expected to close soon.'
Sir Keir has vowed to significantly reduce both legal and illegal immigration and warned in May that Britain risked turning into an 'island of strangers'.
But he went on to say he 'deeply' regretted the specific wording of the comments, which were made in the wake of Reform UK's success at the county council elections on a 'one in, one out' migration policy.