Torbay leader apologies for 'ethnic' remark

Lim Dem "deeply sorry"

The Liberal Democratic leader of Torbay Council says he is "deeply sorry" for remarks he made this week about Afghan refugees coming to the area.

Councillor Steve Darling says the the way the "comments have been construed" isn't what he believes and he would like to clarify them.

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service, which is run by Radio Exe reporters and provides articles to other media outlets, that the situation in Afghanistan is “mortifying,” but that council housing is unavailable in the Bay.

In common with local authorities across the country that are responsible for housing people in need, Torbay does suffer an acute shortage of accommodation. It says it is having to house local people out of the area because of lack of funding for public housing.

In his interview Cllr Darling also said: “We’re having real massive challenges to support our own people let alone Afghan refugees.

He suggested that because of the Bay's lack of ethnic diversity, refugees would not have a sufficient support network once they arrived and that  the council would be “potentially setting them up to fail.”

Mr Darling continued: "Even if we did have accommodation we’d still be facing challenges compared to other ethically diverse parts of the UK.” 

In a personal statement published on the council website the day after the article was published, Cllr Darling apologised: "for comments which have been construed as suggesting that Afghan refugees would not be welcome in Torbay because of their ethnic background.

"That is not my belief. I am deeply sorry if these comments offended anyone, the point I was trying to make was that we will need more funding from central government so that we can support refugees as they become part of our community."

Mr Darling has been congratulated on the policy of not using public housing for people from outside the area, as well as criticised. The Daily Express wrote that "[Torbay] Council has been praised for refusing to take any Afghan refugees - because it wants to prioritise its own "crisis situation for its own people."

But some internet trolls have piled in with abusive and inappropriate attacks on Mr Darling and the policy.

Following the original article, the council quickly asked for private landlords to offer long-term accommodation for Afghan families. The Lib Dems say this request highlights how the council wants to welcome Afghan refugees to Torbay. 

Other Liberal Democrats believe the council should step up to do more. Cllr Jack Dart told BBC Spotlight in the video attached here, broadcast on Friday evening: "We need to have some humanity. It's not beyond the council to really look after these people. We had an underspend of £10 million or so in the last financial year."

Cllr Darling's full statement is here: https://bit.ly/3szCTPL

The original article is at: https://bit.ly/3k9JaxT