OPINION: Express reporter Adam Toms accompanied security on a walkabout and spoke with a Reform UK council chief.
Reform UK has rolled out extra security in three UK areas (Image: Tim Merry)
Reform UK has once again done what it is very good at doing — rolling out an eye-catching policy that gets plenty of media attention. Essex County Council leader, Peter Harris, insisted that extra security in Chelmsford, as well as Braintree and Colchester, is needed as residents are scared of groups of asylum seekers being bussed in from a nearby airbase in Wethersfield.
One clearly worried resident, Linda Sheppard, 72, said she was ecstatic that “Operation Vanguard” had started, as she has felt intimidated by groups of young men. But as we walked around the city centre, residents mentioned money when they noticed what was going on.
Security guards patrol Chelmsford, Braintree and Colchester (Image: Tim Merry)
The trial is costing £150,000.
A woman was heard saying: “Biggest waste of money you’ve ever spent.”
As we got back to County Hall, a gentleman walking a dog asked: “Who’s paying for this? Who is paying for it?”
Another man shouted: “P*** off. You’re not welcome here. B***** off.”
So clearly not everyone is supportive of the scheme.
People also told me they were not worried about migrants in the town, and there were other issues like drug crime and anti-social behaviour — such as loitering and drinking in the street, shouting and fighting — exhibited by locals that needed to be addressed.
But Cllr Harris is adamant that his policy is the right one, telling me: “It’s okay for people to say: ‘Well, we’re not scared.’ Well, good for them. But what about the people who are scared?
“And I think that’s the thing: how many assaults, how many sexual assaults do we have to wait for before the Home Office step up and do something about it? I wasn’t prepared to wait. Let’s take the action first.”
Obviously, the Government will not want to be seen to be contributing towards Reform’s narrative by supplying extra police to patrol streets in areas controlled by the party.
Besides, Chelmsford is just one of many, many places I have visited of late, where residents have told me they want more actual bobbies on the beat.
Migrants are committing crimes — that is a fact.
But people who were born and bred in the UK are also doing bad things