Far-right group ‘hijacking’ asylum housing campaign

Martin Shipton

A notorious far-right group is planning to “hijack” a campaign opposing two proposed hostels for asylum seekers in locations at the other end of Wales from where it is based.

Voice of Wales, located in Swansea and run by convicted fraudster Dan Morgan and fellow activist Stan Robinson, who once advocated castrating veteran broadcast journalist Adam Boulton with a rusty blade, fuelled community tensions when they piggy-backed on a local group that opposed a plan for Llanelli’s most prominent hotel to be house asylum seekers.

Far-right activists from far afield descended on Llanelli, stirred up racial hatred, welcomed the serial criminal who uses the alias “Tommy Robinson”, and intimidated a former newspaper editor who was involved in a community-based campaign that opposed the proposed use of the Stradey Park Hotel for non-racist reasons such as the loss of local jobs and employment opportunities.

Now Voice of Wales is trying to persuade people in Wrexham to take part in a march through the city on January 31 in opposition to plans that would see two former care homes that are both several miles from the city converted into asylum hostels.

Dan Morgan appears in a video posed to Facebook in which he defends Voice of Wales’ right to take part in the march and compares the potential asylum seeker residents to members of “grooming gangs” intent on raping children.

He also criticises Wrexham Independent councillor Paul Pemberton, who has been working with local opponents of the proposals, for stating that he doesn’t want to engage with Voice of Wales. Morgan asserts that groups like his should be involved in campaigns against asylum accommodation in all parts of Wales.

Morgan also claims that the campaign to block the plan to convert the Stradey Park Hotel into a residence for asylum seekers was only won because of the involvement of the likes of Voice of Wales and other outsiders.

Such a narrative is rejected by those involved in the local Llanelli campaign.

In the video Morgan, a supporter of Reform UK, stands in front of a poster that states: “With guns we are citizens; without guns we are subjects”. There is also a cap on display from Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign, with a message on it that reads: “Keep America Great”.

Trump lost the election to Joe Biden, but refused to accept the result and incited his extremist supporters to break into the Capitol building in Washington DC in an attempt to block Biden’s inauguration. In the background of the video there is also a poster of Trump saying: “Fight Fight Fight!” after he was shot in the ear during a rally.

Call centre scam

In 2023 Morgan was given a six months jail sentence suspended for 12 months for his part in a call-centre scam that involved tricking people into believing they were due substantial PPI refunds. Many of the victims, who were duped into paying £550, were elderly and vulnerable.

An anti-fascist campaigner from Wrexham said: “Our city does not need the involvement of far-right agitators who are hoping to stir up trouble and incite racial hatred.

“The two locations earmarked for asylum accommodation are not suitable because they are both a fair distance from the city and where services are not great. One of them is quite isolated while the other is in the village of Rhosllanerchrugog, where around 1,000 people turned up at a public meeting.

“The likelihood is that Wrexham County Borough Council will not grant planning permission to convert the former care homes into homes of multiple occupation. The presence of far-right troublemakers is entirely unwanted.”