Opinion: ‘This divisive, dog whistle politics doesn’t help one person struggling in Ashfield’

This week, the controversial Conservative MP for Ashfield told Parliament, “When I hear words like 'sourcing housing' and 'getting extra hotel spaces for illegal immigrants', it leaves a bitter taste in my throat. And I'll tell you what, I've got 5,000 people in Ashfield wanting to secure council housing and they cannot get one.”

So, let’s look at the issue in depth – how many ‘illegals’ as Mr Anderson puts it actually reside in Ashfield? Not one, zilch, zero.

How many asylum seekers actually live in Ashfield – 14 since 2015. Instead of apologising for 12 years of immigration failure, Mr Anderson, as we’re used to now, goes on the attack in a bid to cement his reputation among the Far Right.

It was only 18 months ago, Anderson went on a one-man boycott of the Euros – because England footballers were taking a stance against racism.

All this divisive talk does nothing to promote community cohesion.

He blows the dog whistle, because he knows the people of Ashfield are turning their backs on the Conservatives.

It was only last week, after his personal endorsement, that the Conservative vote in Eastwood collapsed and the Independents won another by-election.

Meanwhile, the children of Ashfield go hungry.

According to latest figures, 5,198 children – 28.9 per cent – claim free schools dinners in Ashfield.

Many, many more, their parents working, lose out because of the strict criteria during a Tory-caused cost-of-iving crisis.

Does Mr Anderson talk about them?

Of course he doesn’t. This divisive, dog whistle politics doesn’t help one person struggling in Ashfield. It doesn’t put food on one struggling families’ table.

Mr Anderson doesn’t speak for me. Ashfield deserves better than this self-serving, desperate, charlatan.