Council leader urges end to asylum hotel protests

Protests and counter-protests have taken place at a hotel on the edge of Exeter in recent weeks

The leader of Devon County Council has urged an end to protests outside a hotel housing asylum seekers.

Protesters against the use of the hotel and counter-protesters have been gathering in recent weeks at the site on the edge of Exeter.

Julian Brazil, Liberal Democrat leader of the council, said people in the hotel, including children, were "some of the most vulnerable people in the world" and called on people to show British "values of tolerance and compassion".

A Reform councillor and an Independent member claimed to have persuaded protesters to move away from the site on Saturday.

'Dignity and respect'

Speaking at the opening of the council's cabinet meeting, Brazil said: "To blame all our country's and our county's ills on a tiny minority of desperate people is not the answer."

He said there were children at the hotel who have "fled war, famine, and persecution" and were "terrified and confused" and urged protesters "to be mindful of their circumstances".

He said: "We must treat asylum seekers with the dignity and respect we would expect for ourselves.

"We must be vigilant against those who seek to poison our communities with fear and division."

The leader acknowledged public frustration over "rising costs, stretched public services, and a growing sense of disconnect" but called for people to "choose compassion over blame".

Councillor Ed Hill said he and a colleague persuaded protesters to leave the site of the latest protest

The Independent member for Pinhoe and Mincinglake, Ed Hill, who was expelled from Reform UK earlier this year, said he and Angela Nash, who remains a Reform UK member on Devon County Council, attended the latest protest on Saturday.

He said he and Nash made an "appeal to the protesters, based on the various facts we discovered, that this hotel should be excluded from protesting".

Hill said when he explained the distressing circumstances the people in the hotel had been forced to face, the protesters opted to move away from the site.

Nationally, just over 32,000 asylum seekers are currently in hotels and the government has said it is looking at expanding the use of military sites to house asylum seekers, as it seeks to move people out of hotels.