This past weekend, Lambeth Labour’s manifesto for the council elections was launched by Mayor Sadiq Khan, Chuka Umunna MP, Florence Eshalomi AM and Cllr Lib Peck. The manifesto puts the rights of Lambeth’s EU Citizens at its heart:

Fighting for the rights of EU citizens: We’re proud that 79% of Lambeth residents voted to remain in the European Union. We’ve lobbied the government to protect the rights of over 30,000 European citizens in Lambeth. Our friends and neighbours shouldn’t be treated as a bargaining chip – but sadly the Conservatives both nationally and locally refuse to support a guarantee of their rights.

A re-elected Labour council will continue fighting against the Conservative government’s disastrous Hard Brexit.

We’ll fight for the rights of EU citizens, and membership of the single market and customs union.

As this notes, Lambeth is home to over 30,000 EU citizens, other than UK and Irish citizens, and 1 in 8 of residents in Brixton Hill are EU citizens, including many of Lambeth’s important Portuguese community and Latin Americans who hold Spanish passports.

Lambeth is home to over 30,000 EU citizens. They are Londoners, they are welcome here and it’s fantastic to see @LambethLabour commit to protect their rights in their local election manifesto – launched today. https://t.co/aHLkABsU0p #ActionSaturday pic.twitter.com/i5oHkMRjGO

— Sadiq Khan (@SadiqKhan) March 24, 2018

At a recent Lambeth Council meeting, Brixton Hill councillor Martin Tiedemann was one of the Labour councillors proposing a motion to protect EU Nationals. In his speech he spoke of the uncertainty still faced by many residents as Brexit is unveiled, including his own father, a German National who has lived in the UK for almost fifty years yet faces an uncertain and expensive future.

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