A letter to Labour’s Kate Hoey on immigration

Local Left Unity members are among the signatories to this community letter responding to Vauxhall MP Kate Hoey

Dear Kate Hoey

We are writing in response to your signing of an open letter to Ed Miliband calling on him to commit the Labour party to constraining the free movement of people to work throughout the EU. We are, frankly, shocked that you as an MP for our borough with its mixed community and long history of welcoming people from across the EU and beyond, would be one of only seven Labour MPs to sign this call. This letter should, we believe, be seen for what it is: a plea for Labour to raise the white flag and surrender to the xenophobic lies of UKIP.

The UK is the fifth richest country in the world, we have plenty of money to provide excellent public services should we choose to do so. The problems with our public services are not to do with pressure created by migrant workers, who are as much a part of the community and the economy as anyone else, paying tax and spending money in the shops (recent statistics show migrant workers overall pay more in tax than they receive in benefits). They are rather to do with political choices made by governments and councils to cut budgets rather than, for example, raise taxes or deal with tax evasion.

The Labour Party is part of these choices, and we demand that rather than blaming migrant workers Labour should build more council houses, fund more school places by ending the wasteful academy and free school programme, end the programme of hospital closures across London and fund a more reliable, cheaper transport network.

Doing this would be the way to make an impact on the “communities Labour was set up to represent” not stirring up false divisions which feed into a rise in racism. We are confident that the views you express do not represent those of the people of Vauxhall and hope that the Labour Party does not concede to your urgings and that you personally reconsider your views.

Signed (in a personal capacity):
Councillor Jack Holborn (Labour, Lambeth Council)
Joan Twelves (ex-Labour Leader, Lambeth Council)
Lee Jasper (Co-Chair Black Activists Rising against the Cuts (BARAC), Lambeth Police Consultative Group)
Simon Hardy (Chair, Lambeth Left Unity)
Timmii Ofosu (ZeroNation/HeroNation Editor)
Helen Shaw (Co-director, INQUEST)
Ruth Cashman and Jon Rogers (Joint Lambeth UNISON branch secretaries)
David Esterson (UCU Chair, Save Brixton College)
Bill Perry (Joint Branch Secretary Lambeth Unite Community Branch)
Pilgrim Tucker (UNITE Community London & Eastern Region Co-ordinator)
Reverend Alan Gadd (Lambeth)
Fred Milson (Defend Council Housing, Lambeth)
Ray Sirotkin (Lambeth Trades Council Treasurer)
Dan Jeffrey (Lambeth UNISON vice chair)
Rekha Khurana (Lambeth UNISON international officer)