Showing posts with label David Lammy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label David Lammy. Show all posts

Friday 13 April 2018

Shame on Tories as 'hostile environment' hits the Windrush generation





It is upsetting that the BBC intends to broadcast the full Enoch Powell ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech at the same time as the government behind the scenes is attempting to deport the  children of the Windrush Generation, who came here between 1948 and 1971 but do not have the right documentation, apparently because the then government did not keep the records.
Powell’s speech was made on April 20th 1968. I remember how my blood ran cold when I heard reports of his speech, only to be chilled further when  I witnessed Smithfield porters, in blood stained aprons, marching in his support.
Minors who came to the UK from the West Indies in that period are adults who have worked here all their adult life, contributed their tax and national insurance, and enriched our communities and culture.


The ‘racist van’ that drove through Brent to much oppositoon  - part of the ‘hostile environment strategy

This is not just coincidence. When Home Secretary Theresa May was the author of the ‘hostile environment’ strategy. The 3 Million organisation LINK explains:
In May 2012, the then Home Secretary Theresa May said in a Telegraph interview: “The aim is to create here in Britain a really hostile environment for illegal migration... What we don’t want is a situation where people think that they can come here and overstay because they’re able to access everything they need.”
​The ‘Hostile Environment’ is a set of measures, both administrative and legislative, to make life so miserable for anyone without immigration status, that they will ‘self-remove’. It includes limiting access to employment, housing, healthcare, confiscating a driving licence, freezing bank accounts, restricting rights of appeal against the Home Office’s decisions. At the same time rules are made ever more complex (they have been called Byzantine in the Court of Appeal). And the Home Office has a tendency to appeal decisions then delay the appeal process unnecessarily, and there is even a history of non-compliance with orders of the courts.
Now a hostile environment is being applied to people I have taught, who have been work colleagues, friends and neighbours, who have treated me and you in hospital - I could go on but you get the picture. Families are being divided and people uprooted by this racist government while the media focus on Jeremy Corbyn who is guilt of none of these things.
A petition has been organised aimed at getting 100,000 signatures to achieve a debate in Parliament. It has been organised by Patrick Vernon who at one stage sought to become the Labour candidate for Brent Central. He said:
We are fighting for the rights for the children of the Windrush Generation who have been declassified as no longer British Citizens but yet the BBC have the time and audacity to broadcast the full speech of Enoch Powell Rivers of Blood.
David Lammy MP commented:
70 years ago this year the Windrush generation, including my parents, were invited here as citizens and now their children are being treated like criminals. Inhumane and wrong.
Caroline Lucas MP urged support for the petition:
Recent cases of the Home Office stripping rights from post-war Caribbean migrants are simply shocking. Please help get this petition to 100,000 signatures so that can have a debate in Parliament on securing justice for the Windrush Generation.
Lee Jasper expressed anger:
I don’t think people realise the level of anger, that we feel about these deportations. It feels like a deep violent invasion driven by a callous hatred, a codified government racism, that denies us our basic citizenship after taking our taxes.
Twelve High Commissioners from the West Indies have made  representations to the Home Office on behalf of the Windrush Generation. LINK 
Church of England bishops have called for an amnesty. LINK
 
Petitions and  representations are unlikely to be enough.  There needs to be solidarity actions and active support for resistance when our neighbours are faced with deportation.
The petition reads:
Amnesty for anyone who was a minor that arrived In Britain between 1948 to 1971
Windrush Generation were invited as settlers and as British subjects. Minors also had the right to stay. We call on the government to stop all deportations, change the burden of proof and establish an amnesty for anyone who was a minor. The government should also provide compensation for loss and hurt.
With successive changes in immigration policy and legislation over the last 70 years along with the independence of countries which now form part of the Commonwealth this has created uncertainty and lack of clarity and justice for tens of thousands of individuals who have worked hard, paid their taxes and raised children and grandchildren and who see Britain as their home.

The petition can be found HERE


Channel Four’s moving coverage of the issue can be seen HERE

Tuesday 9 June 2015

Hampstead & Kilburn CLP nominate Tessa Jowell and David Lammy for London Mayor

Hampstead and Kilburn Constituency Labour Party  tonight nominated Tessa Jowell and David Lammy as their Labour candidates for London Mayor.

This completes the nominations for the three Brent constituencies:

Tessa Jowell - Brent North and Hampstead & Kilburn
Sadiq Khan - Brent Central and Brent North
Diane Abbot - Brent Central
David Lammy - Hampstead & Kilburn

Interestingly, and perhaps marking the increasing distance of Brent's H&K wards from the rest of Brent Labour, of 100 or so individual members present at the H&K meeting, none spoke in favour of Sadiq Khan, the candidate of choice for many of the Brent Council Cabinet.

Sunday 7 June 2015

Labour's Mayoral candidate selection a level playing field?


Muhammed Butt, Sadiq Khan & Dawn Butler at the 'non political' Harlesden Transformation ceremony in February
Further to my post on the Brent Central nomination of Sadiq Khan and Diane Abbot for London Mayor, I have belatedly seen Ratbiter's article in the current Private Eye.

Supporters of candidate David Lammy, Labour MP for Tottenham, had talked about the impact of 'machine politics' on the nomination process.

Private Eye, after discussing the changes made the the 'supporters' registration process to make it more open after pressure from Lammy and Abbot, continues LINK:
But the attempted stitch up didn't stop there. Miliband had not only made Khan his shadow justice secretary buthis shadfow miister for London, too. This job gave him access to the email addresses of ondon Labour members, which the party denied to Lammy and Khan's other rivals until last week. As early as December, Khan was using his advantage to direct potential supporters to his personal website - Sadiq Khan: Let Londoners Run London - and urging them to 'sign up to my campaign'.
Ratbiter goes on to say that 'Khan is rumoured to have promised [Ken] Livingstone control of London transport in return for his endorsement'.

Brent Council Leader Muhammed Butt has left little doubt on where he stands. He has been avidly retweeting Khan's tweets and those of his supporters.


Friday 5 June 2015

Brent Central Labour nominate 'safe' candidates for London Mayor

Brent Central Constituency Labour Party has nominated Sadiq Khan and Diane Abbott as Labour candidates for the London Mayoral elections. There has to be both a male and female nomination.

The nomination of Sadiq Khan is no surprise as senior Labour councillors have been tweeting in his support for some time and he was active in Brent during the General Election campaign.

However his nomination has not been universally welcome. Cllr Sam Stopp, who was recently elected to Brent Scrutiny Committee, supported  David Lammy denouncing the current front runners as 'safe choices' and 'establishment' candidates.

He argues that Lammy has a wider reach outside the Labour camp.

Stopp said on Twitter that he suspects that there has been an element of 'machine politics' in Labour's Mayoral selection process and refers to a recent Comment is Free article by Rafael Behr LINK

Behr wrote about the leadership election where MPs have publicly endorsed candidates but it could be equally true of the Mayoral campaign where senior Labour councillors endorse candidates:
  Meanwhile the system by which Labour MPs publicly nominate candidates for the leadership and deputy leadership militates in favour of the status quo. Endorsements are traded for preferment in future shadow cabinet appointments or favour in elections to select committees. Hope of ascent up the parliamentary pecking order – or fear of a punitive pecking by a rival faction – often comes before appraisal of the arguments.
Of course this isn't limited to Labour and although the Greens have few preferments to offer it is something to be aware of in our selection process for London Mayor and GLA.

Meanwhile David Lammy appears to have got into a bit of a spat with Rev Paul Nicholson, a leading poverty campaigner. LINK

It will be interesting to see who is nominated by Hampstead & Kilburn and Brent North CLPs.