Tory MP says concerns about asylum seekers being forced to wear red wristbands are 'ridiculous'

David Davies said the policy was in no way like Nazi Germany

Jon Stone
Tuesday 26 January 2016 13:28 GMT
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Serco CEO Rupert Soames said his company ‘feel very passionately about looking after asylum seekers well’
Serco CEO Rupert Soames said his company ‘feel very passionately about looking after asylum seekers well’

A Conservative MP has rubbished concerns about asylum seekers being forced to wear red wristbands in order to receive food.

David Davies, MP for Monmouth told LBC said it was “ridiculous” that people were annoyed at the policy, which has been likened to practices identifying Jewish people in Nazi Germany.

The wristbands revelation follows a furore over asylum seekers having their doors painted red, a policy which reports suggest has made residents a target for xenophobic attacks.

“It's absolutely ridiculous that there has been such a fuss over, really, nothing at all,” Mr Davies told LBC Radio.

“How on earth is that comparable to Nazi Germany? We need a sense of proportion about this.”

The asylum seekers were made to wear red wristbands by a contractor as a condition of receiving free meals at Cardiff Hospital.

The policy has been scrapped after an outcry. Some critics likened the wristbands to the yellow stars Jewish people were forced to wear in Nazi Germany.

The Clearsprings Group, which runs the food service, said the wristbands had been a “reliable and effective way” for its workers to identify asylum seekers.

Asylum seekers in Middleborough housed by a subcontractor of G4S group said they had been targeted with anti-immigrant abuse after their front doors were painted red.

The doors of the 155 homes, owned by Jomast, are now being repainted, the company says.

Last September the Daily Mirror newspaper reported that hard line far-right groups were planning systematic attacks against refugees coming to the UK.

Vigilante gangs in Germany have targeted asylum seekers en masse earlier this month, with roaming thugs beating up migrants and independent businesses that appeared to be owned by foreigners.

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