A town councillor who raised concerns about the impact on local residents of a secretive government resettlement programme for Afghan migrants has been placed under formal investigation by Bracknell Forest Council and reported to police by a Labour councillor for allegedly “stirring up racial hatred”.
As reported by the Mail, Free Speech Union member John Edwards, an independent on Sandhurst Town Council, began submitting inquiries to Bracknell Forest Council in April about the sudden arrival of more than 300 Afghan nationals in a local hotel.
Although Cllr Edwards serves on Sandhurst Town Council, complaints about alleged breaches of the councillor code of conduct are handled by Bracknell Forest Council, the principal authority for the area, under arrangements established by the Localism Act 2011.
In a Facebook post dated 9 April, he began by writing: “First of all, I want to make clear that everyone arriving on this scheme must be treated with dignity and respect. This is in no way blaming them, and they should be made to feel welcome.”
He went on to question the scheme’s fairness and whether it would affect residents already waiting for housing or local services, noting in particular the persistent problem of homelessness among former members of the UK’s armed forces – a sensitive issue in a town closely associated with the military.
At the time of Cllr Edwards’s post, the full scale and origin of the relocation effort remained hidden from the public. The government had imposed a two-year superinjunction preventing even Parliament from learning that the Ministry of Defence had accidentally leaked the personal data of 25,000 Afghans linked to UK forces. The breach triggered a covert £6 billion resettlement scheme that has already relocated more than 16,000 people, with thousands more expected.
The gag order, lifted earlier this month, banned any mention of the breach or the injunction itself, while ministers quietly rehoused Afghans in military accommodation and hotels without public consultation. Judges were told disclosure risked Taliban reprisals. But the High Court has since ruled that the secrecy created a “scrutiny vacuum”, silencing political and public debate on one of the largest relocation efforts in recent history.
A Whitehall briefing note circulated on 4 July 2025 advised officials to “mitigate any risk of public disorder following the discharge of the injunction”, and warned of rising tensions over the summer. Ministers were said to be concerned that the secrecy surrounding the Afghan arrivals – some of whom were rehoused in areas already experiencing pressure on housing and public services – could provoke a repeat of the anti-immigration riots that erupted in July 2024 following a mass stabbing in Southport.
Yet when Cllr Edwards attempted to apply precisely the kind of scrutiny now acknowledged to have been lacking, his inquiries triggered a political backlash. A Labour councillor on the Labour-controlled Bracknell Forest Council accused him, in a Facebook group, of spreading “far right propaganda” and claimed to have reported his comments to the Ministry of Defence, the borough council, and local police.
Although Cllr Edwards never heard from Thames Valley Police, and the force has since confirmed it has no record of a report, he was formally notified by the council’s monitoring officer, Sanjay Prashar, that he was under investigation. “I do consider there to be a case to answer,” Mr Prashar wrote in a letter to Cllr Edwards.
The investigation is being led by an independent external investigator and focuses on whether Cllr Edwards’s Facebook post breached the Sandhurst Town Council Code of Conduct. According to the council, the complaints raised “prima facie cases” as to whether his comments brought his office or council into disrepute. Mr Prashar added that “an informal resolution was not appropriate given the significance of the allegations”
In the weeks that followed, further complaints were submitted, including several from individuals who opted to remain anonymous. The council has since confirmed that one complainant is a Bracknell Forest Council officer. One accused Cllr Edwards of “spreading misinformation on social media which is insightful [sic] of hate towards specific ethnic groups”. Others alleged he had identified the hotel where the Afghan nationals were being housed – an accusation he strenuously denies.
While his Facebook post included photos of the hotel interior, Cllr Edwards says the images were deliberately blurred to prevent identification. “I included images of the accommodation because it is undeniably in the public interest for residents to understand whether the level of publicly funded support is proportionate and fair,” he said.
Speaking to the Mail, FSU Director Sam Armstrong described the case as a “chilling” example of how democratic scrutiny is being stifled by political and institutional hypersensitivity around issues of race and immigration. He said: “Far from inciting racial hatred, his Facebook posts are genuinely some of the most anodyne messages I have ever seen.
“We now know there was an official cover-up over this scheme, yet when this elected councillor did his job and asked some basic questions about whether local people were going to be pushed down the housing list, he was placed under formal investigation.”
The FSU has written to Bracknell Forest Council raising concerns about due process, the chilling effect on public debate, and the use of complaints procedures to silence legitimate political speech. It is also advising Cllr Edwards on his legal options, including the potential for judicial review if the council proceeds with sanctions.
Cllr Edwards told the Mail: “The council has fuelled a narrative that I’m spreading hate and misinformation, despite my claims being true. It’s a way to smear and silence me, and it has a chilling effect which amounts to, ‘disagree with the council and you will be called a racist.’”
“This was never about how I scrutinised a policy,” he added, “but which policy I scrutinised.”
More here.
