Home secretary Yvette Cooper has criticised Reform UK and its leader Nigel Farage for undermining public confidence in the police after the party denounced officers for how they handled protests outside a hotel housing asylum‑seekers in Epping. She said officers deserve support, not political point‑scoring, because they work to keep communities safe.
Witnesses said the demonstration outside a former hotel in Epping, Essex – used to accommodate asylum‑seekers – attracted far‑right activists and local campaigners opposed to the site. Reform UK claimed the police response was heavy‑handed, but Cooper warned that attacking frontline officers risked stoking tensions and undermining the authority of law enforcement at a delicate moment.
The row comes amid a spate of protests around hotels housing migrants across the UK and increasingly sharp rhetoric about asylum seekers. Cooper argued that politicians should focus on improving the asylum system and supporting police rather than inflaming divisions. For more details, readers can consult the Guardian’s coverage of the Epping protest and BBC reports on community tensions around asylum seeker accomm
Source: Politics | The Guardian
