Letter: It Is Wrong to Label Those with Concerns Over Migration ‘Racists’

Published on: 28 Aug, 2026
Updated on: 28 Aug, 2026

From Dale Layman

In response to: Council Leader Complains of Misleading Social Media Comments About Hotel

Waverley’s council leader asks for compassion for migrants but can it be misplaced?

Maybe the compassion should be focused on putting the residents of Godalming and their concerns over migrants first?

People have seen the pressures and problems associated with large-scale migration and the use of migrant hotels. Obviously there are legitimate concerns that similar issues are coming to Surrey.

Just as it would be wrong to say that everyone arriving illegally on a small boat is a criminal, it is equally wrong to insult the people of Godalming by calling them “racists” if they have a problem with migrant hotels.

We have and always will be compassionate to people in genuine need, but maybe the empathy levels for these has gone too far and becoming suicidal to our nation?

Responses to Letter: It Is Wrong to Label Those with Concerns Over Migration ‘Racists’

Brian Creese Reply

August 28, 2026 at 12:28 pm

I can’t say I often agree wholeheartedly with Lib Dem council leader Paul Follows, but I was heartened by his words on the reaction to a false rumour about a migrant hotel in Godalming.

We all agree, I think, that a hotel is an appalling place to keep asylum seekers – both for them and for local residents. But the huge number of complete untruths that now surround asylum seekers is so out of control that to see a prominent local politician asking for compassion was a rare sign of light.

Asylum seekers are here to seek a better life, many have great experience and qualifications which will enrich this country. Happily the Labour government is succeeding in its attempts to reduce the problem; immigration is down, small boat crossings are down, repatriations up and the waiting list for processing claimants is also down.

This is the key – get asylum seekers processed and either returned or allowed to get jobs in this country and start contributing to our society.

Brian Creese is a Guildford Labour activist
David Roberts Reply

August 28, 2026 at 4:15 pm

It’s hard to disagree with the points Mr Layman makes, but his closing remark about national “suicide” leaves an unpleasant taste of nativist racial politics, redolent of discredited right-wing theories about a cultural “Great Replacement” and a “Clash of Civilisations.”

Compassion and empathy are not zero-sum qualities: more for migrants does not mean less for residents (especially as they are not distinct groups).

With immigration figures coming down fast, isn’t it time to junk the inflammatory rhetoric that seeks to persuade the white, British-born majority, who enjoy overwhelming social and economic advantages, that they are all persecuted victims of a woke plot?

“National suicide” seems a meaningless concept to me, although the quickest way to transform the country for the worse would be if racist paranoia destroyed the key British value of tolerance.