If ever there was a time when we would have thought it unlikely that the debate on immigration issues in Boston would go pear-shaped, it would be about now.
The coming week sees the final meeting of the Task and Finish Group set up by Boston Borough Council, which will then head for a darkened room to deliberate and publish its findings and recommendations in the autumn.
But, after listening to BBC Radio Lincolnshire last Friday, it looks as though there may be a few potholes in the road ahead between now and then.
A week today sees a public meeting at the Assembly Rooms at which a vote will be taken on whether the protest march that was postponed last November should go ahead - or whether dialogue with the authorities should continue.

Last resort 

The protest group leader, Dean Everitt told the BBC that he thought a march was a last resort, but added: “It’s the only option we’ve got at the moment because I feel that a lot of talking’s been done and not a lot of action’s been taking place …
“The last time we were going to put the march on, we pulled out because we got into talks with the council. The march would only really have got us into talks. We did the right thing. We knew that there was an element of trouble that was going to be at this march and I think by postponing it a year and looking at the issues, we’re now a little more up to date with what’s going on.”
Asked how things had changed, he said: “We’ve done all the talking we can do with the council, and people just aren’t prepared to admit there’s a problem. It’s now time for a show of people to say there is a problem with immigration.”

"Unanimous" vote to march

What did he think the outcome might be?
“I think it will be a unanimous vote to march, to be truthful.
“The march won’t solve it but I think it will make the authorities realise just how big a problem we’ve got in Boston.”
Over to Councillor Paul Kenny, chairman of the Task and Finish Group on the Social Impact of Population Change on Boston, who again trotted out his catchphrase that it’s “time for talking not walking.”
 “What I’ve been saying to some of the people from the protest group is that I fully  admit that there some issues that need to be dealt with in Boston,” he said, “and all I would be saying to them, seriously, is let’s bear in a bit longer and let’s get some actions put together.
“One of the things I would really be interested in - and I’m going to go to the public meeting - I’d like to know from that group what they’d like to happen, and in some ways they’ve told us they want to march but I  don’t know why they want to march and that will be useful …”

"They disagree ..."

On Dean Everitt’s charge that no-one is taking the group’s concerns seriously, Councillor Kenny responded: “Every time evidence has been given, there are some members of the protest group who disagree with the evidence that’s been given. At the end of the day, what we’ve done at Boston Borough Council is got a group of eminent people across the country from the Border Agency to the police, and education. Occasionally, one of the problems that I think we’ve had is that he and some of his colleagues disagree with what they’re saying.
“I think that most people admit that there are issues in Boston. It’s about what degree they are and how do we come together to resolve them.”
Will an action plan come out of all this, Councillor Kenny was asked.
“One of the things I can guarantee you, in the autumn we will have a report on the kind of issues that are in Boston, and all I’ll be saying to people within the protest groups and people in Boston is that report is going to be made available and at that stage people can either say some of the actions that are coming from it are what they would support or they don’t support.
“I don’t think that anybody in Boston Borough Council admits that there aren’t issues. What we’re not clear at this stage until the report is written is what those issues are  and sometimes, as you realise, you need to make sure they get the right evidence before you make the right action.

"If they don't like report , I'll back their march"

“I know that people want to walk or march – but what are they walking or marching for? I know that they want to put a point over, all that I want to say is that this stage, don’t we need to look at the actions that are coming out … and if they’re not happy with those, I think that they’ve got every right to go and march.”
Q: So hold off any decision on any sort of march until you hear what this report has to say. That’s what you’re saying?
“I think what I am saying is, absolutely.
“If they are completely unhappy with the report that comes from the council, absolutely, I’d support them.”
So what can we make of all this?
Given that the protest group now feels that all the talking so far has led nowhere, it might be time to think of a better phrase than “talking not walking” – as urges what the protesters most object to … endless dialogue without a solution in sight.
Then there is the public meeting. The protest march group has 2,350 members – but it seems likely that only a handful of them will attend the decisive public meeting.
Would a “unanimous” vote by a small number really be considered representative?
Then there is the matter of language.
What does Councillor Kenny mean when he says “I don’t know why they want to march?”
That is one thing that has been made clear time and again. The marchers want publicly and physically to stand up and be counted – we would have thought that anyone could have worked that out.

Is "evidence" fact?

And when Councillor Kenny says: “Every time evidence has been given, there are some members of the protest group who disagree …”  what he appears to be saying is that the evidence is correct and that anyone who disputes it is in the wrong.
Certainly, interpretations can differ.
But we find ourselves hard pressed, for instance, to accept trade union assertions that immigration has had no impact on the employment of local people; or the police denial of any impact on crime statistics, or the NFU’s claim that local people are so lazy that the jobs have gone to others.
Councillor Kenny should avoid confusing evidence with political correctness from witnesses who are caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.
As it is, he has now opened a whole new can of worms by saying that he would support a march if people are unhappy with the findings of his group.

  

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