Ministers have warned there could be riots after the lifting of a superinjunction which kept quiet a mass immigration scheme.
The Ministry of Defence has alerted all Government departments of possible public disorder following the revelations that thousands of Afghans have been quietly slipped into Britain.
It comes as those in towns across the country with large numbers of migrant arrivals from Afghanistan finally learn the true reason they came here.
A blunder by the British military put 100,000 Afghans ‘at risk of death’ from the Taliban – but the scandal was covered up while ministers began rescuing them and bringing them to Britain.
So far some 18,500 have quietly been brought here with many housed in military accommodation and hotels.
A Whitehall briefing note from July 4, seen by the Daily Mail, states: ‘MOD [Ministry of Defence] will need to work with colleagues across Government…to mitigate any risk of public disorder following the discharge of the injunction (noting that Home Office advice is that such a risk is higher during the summer period).’
A group of Afghan men walk outside their Bracknell hotel. Locals have not been told the true reasons for so many Afghans coming here – that the UK government put them in danger
A woman on her smartphone returning to her hotel accommodation
An Afghan woman and her child go for a walk in the Berkshire sunshine
Hundreds of Afghan migrants are in Bracknell – a town that has welcomed them but has not been given the facts by the Government until now
Families have been relocated to the UK due to their work supporting British forces in Afghanistan. After the data leak endangered them, Britain has been rescuing them via Pakistan
A protester throws an object towards the hotel in Rotherham during the riots on August 4, 2024
It can also today be revealed that last summer’s riots following the Southport massacre were mainly in areas with the highest numbers of Afghan arrivals – and that ministers were privately warned about this.
The public and MPs have not been told about a potential link between the government’s secret immigration scheme and the far-right disorder that swept the nation.
However the Mail can reveal that Cabinet ministers were briefed on it behind closed doors, on October 7 last year.
Town Councillor John Edwards told the Daily Mail the Afghan migrants deserve help and respect – but so do British veterans
In their briefing paper, seen by the Mail, officials warned: ‘The recent far-right disorder targeting asylum seekers and Muslim communities was the worst outbreak of racial violence in the UK for decades.
‘We know that 15 out of the 20 primary disorder hotspots are in the top 20 per cent of local authorities with the highest numbers of supported asylum seekers and Afghan resettlement arrivals.’
However MPs were not given the full picture because of the superinjunction stifling Parliament.
This is despite the fact there were numerous official inquiries under way at the time into what caused the violent unrest, in which police arrested 1,500 in towns and cities across the UK.
A recent inquiry by the Commons’ Home Affairs Select Committee concluded one of the key factors behind the rioting was that ‘by failing to disclose information to the public, false claims filled the gap and flourished online, further undermining confidence in the police and public authorities’.
At their meeting, ministers were urged to consider ‘the importance of community cohesion’. The briefing paper noted: ‘Given the scale of arrivals proposed, communities will need to see that arrivals are being managed in a fair and supported way.’
The existence of the secret resettlement scheme will come as a shock – but not a surprise – in towns where Afghan arrivals have been hosted without locals being given the full facts.
So many Afghans have been arriving that 20 per cent of all MOD property was given over to housing them at one stage earlier this year.
A woman in traditional Afghan dress walks into the hotel in Bracknell
The Government said it was paying for 1,400 beds in hotels in Berkshire and West Sussex, with more hotels lined up in Preston, Aberdeen and Cardiff
One of the Government’s unmarked planes arriving at Stansted Airport in Essex with 227 Afghans on board
Yet even that was not enough, with many now being placed in taxpayer-funded hotels, despite the Government trying to reduce hotel use for migrants which overall costs taxpayers some £8million a day.
In several towns there has been unease as baffled locals have not been given the true reasons for the influx and even their councillors and MPs have deliberately been kept in the dark.
The Government said it was paying for 1,400 beds in hotels in Berkshire and West Sussex, with more hotels lined up in Preston, Aberdeen and Cardiff.
In Bracknell, Berkshire, John Edwards, an independent town councillor, said: ‘Bracknell has welcomed 300 Afghans and if these people served our Armed Forces then we want to treat them with dignity and respect and it’s right we help them. But it’s quite difficult when it’s not being implemented fairly. They have been given a four-star hotel with their bills and their food covered and they get stuff like “wraparound support”. Bracknell residents deserve the same level of support if this money is available.’
Councillor Edwards added: ‘I’ve been speaking to veterans who also served in Afghanistan, and one of them is in a one-bed flat with his wife and two kids – daughters aged three and five who both have been hospitalised because the mould in the flat is so bad – and they are not getting any help.
‘He said something key to me, he said, “you know, I was in Afghanistan and I know what these guys did for us, I know they are in danger from the Taliban, I want to help. But where’s my help?”
‘And you know, they need to explain all this to people, not brush over any inconvenient truths, because that is what fosters resentment.’
In May, Bracknell Forest Council issued a public plea to residents to ignore ‘misinformation circulating’. Earlier this month, it issued an update admitting that if Afghans ended up homeless, it would have a duty to house them, but it added: ‘Will [Afghan] people on the [scheme] get housing priority over veterans? No, the council’s housing policy very clearly gives veterans high priority for housing. The people on the [scheme] are in transitional accommodation, commissioned and paid for by the MOD/central government.’
No one in Bracknell nor anywhere else was told of the data breach and the real reason why the British government was bringing so many Afghans to the UK.
A drone view of demonstrators protesting outside the hotel in Rotherham on August 4, 2024
Police officers stand near the broken windows of the hotel in Rotherham on August 4, 2024
More than 60 officers were injured in the violence in the South Yorkshire town last August
Trouble also flared last year at service accommodation in Larkhill, Wiltshire, where Army chiefs were forced to shut down criticisms among families who raised issues with the relocation of Afghan refugees on to military estates.
Soldiers’ wives living in service accommodation had complained after Afghans were reportedly seen taking pictures of their children. They said they felt unsafe and argued the Afghans’ behaviour, although likely to be innocent in motive, raised safeguarding issues. The Ministry of Defence came down hard, threatening troops and civilian staff with disciplinary action should they complain publicly again.
The superinjunction has prevented the public and MPs being able to debate the merits of the scheme or understand the reasons why so many Afghans have been brought here.
In private, Whitehall officials have been warning ministers for more than a year of ‘significant integration considerations’ of bringing such large numbers to Britain including the impact on ‘local services such as education and healthcare’, a briefing paper shows.
