This Sunday there was a small protest at Linton on Ouse village hall following the bombshell that Priti Patel intends to offload 1500 immigration cheats to the former RAF base.



As expected, the local rag chose to paint it in a negative light. Reporting for The Press, Mike Laycock relies entirely on one interview. Megan Remmer, clerk to Linton on Ouse Parish Council said:

The demonstration was not affiliated in any way with the council and nor did it support it. “It is also, as far as we aware, not affiliated with anyone from the village,” she said. “While we obviously cannot speak on behalf of every resident of Linton, those we have spoken to do not feel this is the appropriate manner to oppose the proposed siting of the Asylum Seekers Centre. “We have removed mentions of it on social media where we can in the hope that it can be kept to a minimum.” Representatives of a village group campaigning against the air base plans have issued a statement this evening claiming that today’s protest was organised by people who were not residents of Linton.

They claimed several ‘far-right groups’ had been invited to the protest, members of which made up the majority of the small number of protestors present, having travelled to Linton from the wider region. It said: “The gathering was not obviously a protest and was not directed at anyone. There was no message: there were no speeches, no placards, no banners. “For under an hour, protestors chatted to one another and filmed each other on their mobile phones. They then dispersed.”

It claimed only one resident of Linton was present at the protest and the remainder of the village rejected it and refused to participate. The village also objects, in the strongest possible terms, to the presence of far-right groups on their streets.”

If the Press reporter had bothered to stick around and talk to anyone at length, he would have known that the protesters were from the area. I don’t live in Linton on Ouse but I do live at the opposite end of the airfield and the people I spoke to had a local connection to the area. I only learned of it from a Linton resident. We all have skin in the game. We are not far right.

In this context “far right” means working class people who won’t censor their opinions. The people I spoke to were entirely civil and better informed than most about the threat that dinghy migrants pose to the peace and safety of the area.

It appears that those who have taken “official” ownership of the campaign against the asylum centre are of the liberal NIMBY persuasion. They’re fine with economic migrants cheating the asylum system just so long as they’re dumped on somebody else.

Moreover, it is something of an insult for a self-appointed Linton spokesperson to decree that Linton residents have exclusive ownership of the issue. The diversion of police resources affects the entire district as far north as Thirsk and Northallerton. Feral male migrants with nothing to do will disrupt community life in nearby Easingwold, and young women can now forget about using local bus services.

The Press reporter wrote “A North Yorkshire Police spokesperson said before the demonstration that the force was aware of the planned activity and its officers would be in the area to provide reassurance to the local community, but The Press saw no officers today”. But then he wouldn’t have seen any police because he turned up for less than two minutes, didn’t spend any real time talking to us, and if he had, he would have seen the police drive-by. Not that they needed to be there. This was a very peaceful, civil gathering of likeminded people who were a real pleasure to meet – and I hope to meet them again.

The local media is all too happy to indirectly smear demonstrators as “far right”, but this is the same local media that will refer to male rapists as “she/her” if they claim to be trans. This is the same local media who will report any criminal activity carried out by migrants as that of a “Linton resident” – and will never publish a description of an assailant unless they happen to be white. You can tell what their editorial guidelines are by what they don’t say.

Meanwhile, now that the weather has improved, the RNLI is back at it, escorting more illegal immigrants ashore. Tory activists have told us that the absence of crossings in the last few days are a result of Johnson’s Rwanda plan, but the weather seems to have been the primary deterrent until today. There is no reason to believe the Rwanda offshore processing deal will come to anything and if the government gets to set up its shanti town in Linton on Ouse, it will expand in size and every former airfield in the region (of which there are many) may host a new camp.

The Tories have repeatedly lied to us about illegal immigration and they’re treating local democracy with contempt. This site has been chosen on the basis of availability rather than suitability, with no consultation and no warning. After decades of establishment political correctness, locals now live in fear of speaking openly about their concerns so any “official” opposition campaign is likely to be mealy mouthed and timid.

When it comes down to it, only “far right” bloggers will take any real interest in the issue and tell the truth about what’s really going on. The York Press has demonstrated today that it is no ally of local residents. UKIP will be monitoring the situation carefully and I hope to see more of you the next time we hold a demonstration. Follow the Facebook group for news.