Anne Milton - Guildford MP (and Dipstick)

A reader just sent me scan of a recent pamphlet/newsletter from Dennis Paul. You can click here to see a JPG, but I've also included the full text below to make your life easier.

Dennis Paul is a local prospective Conservative County Council candidate. He features in Anne Milton's latest pamphlet and appears here with Anne as part of their campaign to reduce noise levels from the A3. You can see a larger version of this photo and others at Dennis Paul's website.

(Please note that I have yet to get in touch with Dennis Paul to authenticate this document. The only reason I suspect it may not be genuine is because it reads like something the BNP would release.)

Transcript follows:

Conservative - Park Barn Edition - February 2005

Asylum Numbers Fuels (sic) Fears About Housing Availability

Local applicants for Council housing have raised concerns with prospective candidate Dennis Paul about uncontrolled immigration.

As one resident in Park Barn we spoke to put it, "I've been on the waiting list for housing for 3 years now. I have 2 small kids and getting a suitable place these days with house prices the way they are at the moment is impossible. It's unfair that locals like me have to wait, while an asylum seeker get's (sic) put up in a nice home within weeks".

Another enraged resident claimed, "I've paid taxes all my life... for what? They are getting state help without paying anything back whatsoever. I've heard the Government is planning to bring in loans too, but whose (sic) going to pay for those who default, and for the administration that goes with it - us, the taxpayer".

(Did You Know? - Between 1997-2003 asylum applications rose by an astonishing 48 per cent. Despite the end of the Cold War and wars in the Balkans, the number of people claiming asylum under the last Conservative Government fell by 43 per cent between 1991-1996.)

Conservatives will offer refuge to people genuinely fleeing persecution and torture, but like you, we see the Government has:

- failed to effectively deal with the thousands of asylum applications;

- failed to process applications quickly;

- failed to ensure that those who disappear or are found bogus, are found an required to leave.

Conservatives would tackle this problem more effectively with better control of immigrations, which would help alleviate concerns about housing availability.

Join Me Online At My Campaign Website www.dennispaul.org

/transcript


1. His use of statistics is selective at best. Especially as this was published in February 2005, and he fails to acknowledge the recent decrease in figures...

BBC - Tue 22 Feb 2005 - Asylum figures continue to fall

2. CRSA - Asylum Seeker Myths - They are being given a high standard of housing while locals are homeless and living in run-down homes: Council taxpayers' money is not used to house asylum seekers therefore local people are not being disadvantaged. We are meeting our obligations under international law to treat asylum seekers fairly and decently.

This is a myth that Dennis Paul is perpetuating by printing something that suggests there is a direct connection between a Park Barn resident's housing problem and the housing of asylum seekers. Why, it's almost as if they gave a this person's house to an asylum seeker. Sure, it happens all the time. Why, I once heard that...

3. Let's stick with that for a moment here. The headline states that "asylum numbers fuel fears about housing availability"... but in this very pamphlet, Dennis Paul uses those same fears to make his case and his own carefully massaged figures to increase the fear!

There is no real problem here that I can see... only the perception of one. Which doesn't really become a big problem unless someone irresponsibly perpetuates myths and stirs up fear (say, for political gain).

In short, Dennis Paul claims he wishes to act mainly to "alleviate concerns".... but these concerns he wishes to alleviate are the same concerns that he works so hard to exacerbate!

In fact, it seems to me that the only problem present in this document would be improved greatly by Dennis Paul's absence.

That's one heck of an ally you've go there, Anne. I can't wait to find out more about your other Tory chums.

Labels: dennis paul, racism