A senior councillor used the Afghan language of Dari in the council chamber during an impassioned defence of a £1m scheme to rehouse refugees in North Yorkshire.
North Yorkshire Council deputy leader Gareth Dadd spoke out after the project in Selby was criticised in recent TV and online news reports.
The initiative will pay for three new four-bedroom homes for families as part of the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme, which aims to help those who worked with British forces in the country, as well as vulnerable groups at risk from the Taliban.
The £976,900 cost of the housing will be met by around £410,000 from the government’s Local Authority Housing Fund, with the remainder from borrowing against the Housing Revenue Account, which manages council tenants’ rent.
Asked by a colleague at a full council meeting this week if he regretted approving the scheme in light of the news reports, he said he “regretted nothing”.
The Conservative councillor warned that it was “very dangerous” for the scheme to be viewed by some as a “political opportunity”.
He added: “I started the week having seen some of the reports with anger — it’s now morphed into sadness.
“I’m very sad that this has become some sort of political opportunity and it’s dangerous, it’s very dangerous.
“I’m sorry if people think I’m being a bit over the top, but this happened in a certain European country in the 1930s.
“It started with little digs and before you know it we hear cries of ‘it’s the immigrants, it’s the refugees, it’s the gays, it’s the disabled’.
“It’s a very dangerous track to go down and those pedalling that politics of opportunism and populism really ought to be careful with the language they’re using.”
Cllr Dadd then spoke a sentence in the Afghan language of Dari, adding: “What it translates to, and I’m sure it’s shared by every member within this chamber, is ‘we thank you and we welcome you’.”
The councillor received applause from councillors of all parties after the comments.
Among those who criticised the scheme was Henry Hill, deputy editor of the Conservative Home website, who said it “highlighted the sense of injustice” of those families on a waiting list for a council house.
“If you’re going to do this government build vastly more houses so that you can do it for more people,” he added.
North Yorkshire Council independent councillor, Michelle Donohue-Moncrieff, also questioned the decision to purchase the homes, saying she sympathised with the duty to house Afghan refugees, but said this should not be at the expense of council house tenants.
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