A campaign organiser has hailed a Home Office U-turn as "power to the people" after plans to house migrants in a luxury apartment block in Fareham has been scrapped.
Fareham Borough Council was informed that the Government would not be proceeding with the proposal to procure Wates House apartment block, after extensive protests by locals and former Home Secretary Suella Braverman.
Taking to social media, Braverman declared she is "delighted" that the Home Office has "listened to me and local people", and that Wates House will "no longer be used for illegal immigrants".
Speaking to GB News, campaign lead Chris Douglas celebrated the Home Office's decision and they are "very pleased" with the result.
Douglas exclaimed: "Power to the people! We're celebrating down in Fareham here at the moment - what a great result, and this really is down to the people of Fareham and Wallington continuously - I would not say harassing, but speaking to authorities and telling them we weren't happy, we were not going to be silent, we were not going to be told that we were going to stand down, we were not going to be told it's pointless.
"We knew right from the start that we didn't want Wates House filled up with illegal, undocumented, unvetted migrants, and we worked and we toiled - and yesterday we got the fantastic news from the council that the Home Office have pulled out. We're very pleased, it's going to be a great weekend."
Noting the struggles the campaigners have had in getting the decision overturned, Douglas stressed that it wasn't a "case of being racist or bigots", but they wanted to "protect the area" from illegal migrants.
He claimed: "It's not about being right wing, it's not about being racist or bigoted, but we were tarnished with that from every authority we spoke to. This was a case of local community standing up, because we had a safeguarding issue for our family and young people, yet we had the left wing coming to us like a tidal wave.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
"All sorts of insults and and awful words were said about those who wanted to protect the area. It's a beautiful building, it's a lovely part of Hampshire, and it has to go to local people - those young people, military people, those people on the social housing list - we don't care, just don't put illegal migrants in there."
Praising the work of Suella Braverman, Douglas told GB News that if wasn't for the work of her and the campaigners, the migrants would "still be going in" to the accommodation.
He explained: "Thank you to Suella, she's done a fantastic job - but I do believe that if it wasn't for the patriots of Fareham, Aldershot, Portsmouth and Bournemouth coming together as a united front, this wouldn't have happened, and we'd be seeing migrants going in.
"It really is a great thing for showing people power. And I say to the rest of the country - don't sit back and allow this to happen to you - stand up, be heard, you have a right. It's a great result, and we're very, very pleased."
Highlighting how the campaign isn't completely over, Douglas made clear that they will be "keeping an eye" on where the planned migrants will be housed, now that the plans have fallen through.
He concluded: "We hope that the migrants that were supposed to come to the Wates House don't get moved somewhere else locally, we're keeping an eye on that.
"We're aware that might happen, and I'm sure Suella would keep us in the loop if that did happen."
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Fareham Borough Council was informed that the Government would not be proceeding with the proposal to procure Wates House apartment block, after extensive protests by locals and former Home Secretary Suella Braverman.
Taking to social media, Braverman declared she is "delighted" that the Home Office has "listened to me and local people", and that Wates House will "no longer be used for illegal immigrants".
Speaking to GB News, campaign lead Chris Douglas celebrated the Home Office's decision and they are "very pleased" with the result.
Douglas exclaimed: "Power to the people! We're celebrating down in Fareham here at the moment - what a great result, and this really is down to the people of Fareham and Wallington continuously - I would not say harassing, but speaking to authorities and telling them we weren't happy, we were not going to be silent, we were not going to be told that we were going to stand down, we were not going to be told it's pointless.
"We knew right from the start that we didn't want Wates House filled up with illegal, undocumented, unvetted migrants, and we worked and we toiled - and yesterday we got the fantastic news from the council that the Home Office have pulled out. We're very pleased, it's going to be a great weekend."
Noting the struggles the campaigners have had in getting the decision overturned, Douglas stressed that it wasn't a "case of being racist or bigots", but they wanted to "protect the area" from illegal migrants.
He claimed: "It's not about being right wing, it's not about being racist or bigoted, but we were tarnished with that from every authority we spoke to. This was a case of local community standing up, because we had a safeguarding issue for our family and young people, yet we had the left wing coming to us like a tidal wave.
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"All sorts of insults and and awful words were said about those who wanted to protect the area. It's a beautiful building, it's a lovely part of Hampshire, and it has to go to local people - those young people, military people, those people on the social housing list - we don't care, just don't put illegal migrants in there."
Praising the work of Suella Braverman, Douglas told GB News that if wasn't for the work of her and the campaigners, the migrants would "still be going in" to the accommodation.
He explained: "Thank you to Suella, she's done a fantastic job - but I do believe that if it wasn't for the patriots of Fareham, Aldershot, Portsmouth and Bournemouth coming together as a united front, this wouldn't have happened, and we'd be seeing migrants going in.
"It really is a great thing for showing people power. And I say to the rest of the country - don't sit back and allow this to happen to you - stand up, be heard, you have a right. It's a great result, and we're very, very pleased."
Highlighting how the campaign isn't completely over, Douglas made clear that they will be "keeping an eye" on where the planned migrants will be housed, now that the plans have fallen through.
He concluded: "We hope that the migrants that were supposed to come to the Wates House don't get moved somewhere else locally, we're keeping an eye on that.
"We're aware that might happen, and I'm sure Suella would keep us in the loop if that did happen."
Find Out More...