Kemi Badenoch warned against inflaming Thetford unrest with threat to evict foreign nationals from social homes

Kemi Badenoch has been warned against inflaming tensions in Thetford with her pledge to evict foreign nationals from social housing, as police brace for further anti-migrant unrest in the Norfolk town.

The Conservative leader’s proposal was branded “dangerous” by the head of the National Housing Federation after asylum seekers were forced to flee their homes on Thursday as disorder continued for a third night.

Kate Henderson, chief executive of the organisation which represents social housing providers, said politicians should think “very carefully” about their language when talking about people living in council houses.

“In a week when families in Thetford have had their homes targeted and stormed, it is dangerous to talk about people’s neighbours as though they are illegitimate occupants of their homes,” she said. “Politicians should weigh that very carefully.”

The Tories have been accused of copying Nigel Farage’s Reform Party with their plan to bar foreign nationals from social housing, unveiled on Thursday, which has been branded “unserious and unworkable” by critics.

The party claims around 230,000 homes would be freed up through the plan to limit entitlement and force evictions.

But critics warn the plan could breach the UK’s international obligations, and end up in the courts, as well as drive up homelessness, ultimately costing taxpayers more.

Under the proposal any single person who is not a UK, Irish or EU citizen, along with couples where neither partner qualifies, would lose their social home, regardless of whether they have children.

Those affected would have six months to leave.

Only UK nationals and those with EU settled status would be eligible for new tenancies, new arrivals from the EU would not qualify.

Ms Henderson added: “Evicting people who are our friends and neighbours and who have played by our country’s rules is against our sector’s values and British values. This policy would increase homelessness and create instability and division in our communities.

“Families forced out of their homes, many with children born and raised in this country, will still need to live somewhere they can afford. Many will end up homeless, increasing pressure on councils who will need to provide expensive emergency housing.”

She added that the current “severe shortage” of social homes was as a result of “bad policy decisions over decades that led to the sale of millions of social homes, at the same time as successive governments have failed to properly fund and build new social housing. The only meaningful way to bring down waiting lists and reduce homelessness is to build the social homes we urgently need in every part of the country.”

Norfolk’s police chief Paul Sanford said some protesters were “targeting addresses” they believed were housing asylum seekers.

Two people were arrested on Thursday night, taking the total number of arrests across the three nights to five.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, chief constable Sanford said his officers had been required to move residents of the properties away “for their safety”.

“We did have people protesting in the Thetford area who were targeting addresses they believed were housing asylum seekers and on a couple of occasions that required us to escort the residents of those properties away for their safety,” he said.

Asked what he thought would have happened if officers did not intervene, he said: “I think it’s highly likely protesters would have got into the property and that would have been a significant problem and really threatened the safety of the occupants, and indeed the protesters themselves.”The Conservative Party has been approached for comment.