Green MEP condemns 'xenophobic' UKIP poster campaign

LONDON'S Green MEP Jean Lambert has pointed to the chasm between UKIP claiming to defend British workers jobs, while doing nothing to defend their rights at work.

Speaking on the BBC today, she said:

Today an anti-EU poster campaign has been launched, suggesting that UK jobs are under threat from EU migrants.

There is no fixed number of jobs so it is misleading to assume that a British worker loses out every time a non-UK national gets a job. We should also not assume that every vacant job has a local applicant with the necessary skills.

We should be ensuring everyone in work has the same rights and earns a living wage. UKIP has not once defended workers' rights in the European Parliament and frequently speaks of such rights - to control working time, to parental leave, to equal treatment - as "barriers to business".

These posters represent crocodile tears for British workers.

She added:

This xenophobic campaign is just nasty: it is anti-foreigner and leaves many EU migrants - that's more than a million people in London alone, and British citizens from diverse backgrounds, wondering whether they should be here at all.

The Green Party believes the UK should be at the heart of the EU, with a prime seat at the decision-making table: not only to boost employment and workers' rights, but to ensure we influence EU standards on air quality, its responses to climate change and that the UK has a voice on key decisions about how and where we get our energy from in future.

Greens join those standing up to racism and fascism

Hundreds marched from Parliament Square and rallied in Trafalgar Square today to demonstrate against racism and fascism ahead of the local and Euro elections. Many speakers expressed concern about how, in the wake of Ukip, the three main parties were pandering to racism and xenophobia.  Jean Lambert Green MEP urged everyone to vote for whatever progressive party, although she herself was a Green, to keep the extreme right from increasing their representation in the European Parliament.

Young Greens and an 'Old Green'

Jean Lambert MEP on the big screen

Malevolent Crosby's mendacity has to be challenged

Lynton Crosby's claim in the  Sunday Times that the 'racism van' campaign was 'flawed and backfired' LINK is a bit rich as he is widely seen as the strategist behind the 'Go Home' offensive as a way of out-flanking UKIP.

Crosby of course has form. Back in Australia he was behind John Howard's election campaigns the lowest point of which was Howard's claim that refugees were throwing their children out of boats in order to blackmail the Australian government.

Crosby's comment may mean that the 'racist vans' will be dropped but I expect that the 'Go Home' campaign will continue in other guises, particularly the raids at railway stations and bus stations, and raids on work premises.

This means that in Brent we will need to remain alert and mobilise at the first signs of any raids in the borough. Though often a critic of Muhammed Butt, I have to pay tribute to the way he has spoken out on this issue across many media outlets.  He has spoken for the whole of Brent in opposing these attempts to divide and rule and disrupt our community.

Meanwhile there are complaints about the Go Home van advertisements lodged with the Advertising Standards Agency (I had my acknowledgment yesterday) and the Equalities and Human Rights Commission inquiry into possible ethnic targeting.

Given Crosby's mendacity any resulting, seemingly negative,  publicity may well be part of his plan to portray the government as tough on immigration (and by implication race) and undermine UKIP and the EDL, just as Margaret Thatcher's policies led to a decline in support for the National Front in the 80s. Who needed the NF when Margaret Thatcher was saying the same thing?

This does not mean that we should not campaign .loud and clear, but it does mean that we should also challenge the Tory's underlying message.

Jenny Jones condemns Coalition's 'senseless' lurch to right on immigration

GREEN Party London Assembly member Jenny Jones has condemned the Coalition Government’s “senseless” lurch to the right on immigration.

Last week, the Home Office’s ‘Go Home or Face Arrest’ vans were piloted in London. They were branded #racistvan by critics on Twitter and Lib Dem Business Secretary Vince Cable described the campaign as "stupid and offensive."

UK Border Agency checks on the immigration status of targeted individuals at London Underground stations have been described as “sinister and disturbing” by London blog Wembley Matters.

“In their efforts to claw back UKIP votes the government seems to have taken leave of their senses. First the intimidation by the racist vans, now blatant discrimination against ethnic minorities going peacefully about their legitimate business“, said Jones.

“Immigration is not the overwhelming problem for the rest of us, it's the semi stagnant economy and poverty pay for millions. When will this government see the damage their vile policies are causing?”


In 2011, Green Party conference passed a motion opposing the government’s cap on immigration. It said we should stop “treating those who are not native to the UK as a problem”. Today, it’s important to restate that.