“Southgate & Wood Green CLP recognises & values the substantial economic & social contribution that migrants make & rejects the assertions that migration has caused incalculable damage &that the UK risks becoming an island of strangers.”
By David Beadle
On 22nd May, Southgate and Wood Green CLP unanimously passed this emergency motion: “Southgate and Wood Green CLP recognises and values the substantial economic and social contribution that migrants make to the UK, including in the social care sector, and rejects the assertions that migration has caused incalculable damage and that the UK risks becoming an island of strangers.”
The leafy suburban Starmer-loving General Committee (GC) rarely debates policy; an earlier discussion on Labour’s disastrous recent results generated more views that ‘we’re not getting our message across’ rather than any belief that government policies are wrong; and members don’t seem to have worked out why so few activists are out knocking on doors in a borough where the NEC has just suspended candidate selections pending (another) investigation. But even Southgate and Wood Green knows where to draw the line, and members were furious.
One lone voice suggested Starmer might not have meant it the way it came out, although it’s hard to explain the increase from 5 years residency to 10 years before being eligible to apply for indefinite leave to remain in any other way. Another suggested that small towns outside London don’t yet appreciate our own vibrant multicultural heritage. Our MP Bambos Charalambous reported how cross the PLP had been at a meeting with Starmer, but it didn’t sound like he’d apologised to them. And many wanted the wording to be stronger, but an amendment from the BAME section to this effect didn’t make it to the floor.
But if Southgate and Wood Green can call Starmer out on this Reform-style dog-whistle, then we can expect many other CLPs to do so too.
- David Beadle is a delegate to the General Committee of Southgate and Wood Green Constituency Labour Party.
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