Far-right much more mainstream in Wales, says academic

Campaigners gathered at the cenotaph in Llantwit Major to hold a counter protest on Saturday

Wales is not immune to far-right politics and politicians should take responsibility for using inflammatory language, a leading academic has said.

The warning follows a protest by an anti-immigration group against plans for temporary housing for Ukrainian refugees in the Vale of Glamorgan.

Cardiff University's Huw Williams warned the rise of right-wing rhetoric was influencing people's actions.

Extreme views had become "much more mainstream", he said.

Around 20 supporters of Patriotic Alternative, founded by Mark Collett, a former publicity director for the BNP, staged the protest in the town of Llantwit Major on Saturday, with several hundred attending a counter-demonstration.

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A community event featuring an overnight vigil at a church, a Welsh cake giveaway and a football match were also held to oppose Patriotic Alternative's presence.

Some locals had feared the demonstration might lead to violence and confrontation. South Wales Police said the protests were mainly peaceful, but that two arrests were made.

"For quite some time now both in Wales and the UK, there's been a drift towards these sorts of extreme right wing ideas," Mr Williams, a political philosopher, said.

"If you look at the rhetoric during the referendum for [leaving] the European Union, we can see that in many ways, that changed the nature of rhetoric in British politics."

"Suddenly, ideas that were very much on the periphery 20 to 25 years ago became much more mainstream," he said.

Cardiff University academic Huw Williams says it would be "foolish" to think Wales was immune to far-right ideology

Mr Williams, who is a dean and reader at Cardiff University, warned that far-right rhetoric was on the rise in Wales.

"In Wales, although there might be a slightly different political environment here... it would be foolish to think we were somehow immune to this sort of politics," he said.

"I think there needs to be an acknowledgement and some responsibility taken here in terms of what's said by politicians and what's said by commentators, because that's going to colour the way the public interpret these issues and events, and it will inevitably have an influence on actions that are taken and words that are spoken."

A spokesperson for the UK government said: "The UK will always be a welcoming, compassionate country. The welfare of asylum seekers in our care is of the utmost importance and any attempts to fuel resentment towards them are completely unacceptable.

"We are very clear about the need to manage our borders effectively and have an asylum system that works for those in genuine need, as are the British people."

Larysa Martseva, who fled her home in Bucha, Ukraine, to Wales in April last year with her children Roman and Marianna, told Newyddion S4C she feared for her children's lives when Russian soldiers occupied the streets around her home in February last year.

She said she witnessed another family who were trying to flee the war zone being killed in their car by Russian troops.

But having arrived in Wales last April, she was taken aback by the warm welcome she received and is dismayed at the protest to oppose housing refugees from Ukraine.

'No place for hatred'

"We are very upset with this [protest]... they [Patriotic Alternative] just use the helpless situation of Ukrainians to attract attention and manipulate," she said.

"It's easy to manipulate based on money issues and economic issues - 'look at them, they're eating your bread, they're taking your jobs'. It's not true.

"We plead for refuge. We are not freeloaders, we are working. Mostly, we are women with children."

Patriotic Alternative supporters were heavily outnumbered by counter-protestors in Llantwit Major on Saturday.

Richard Parry, who organised the community response, said people had come together to celebrate the kindness of the town.

"The people of the town have said there's no place for provoking hatred and perpetrating anger," he said.

"This is a town that can do its own political dialogue. Kindness is the basis of community. We'll sort out the political issues around the town. We don't need outside interference."