Brexit is costing us in terms of social cohesion
Thursday, 4th January 2018
• MARTIN Plaut is right to raise the cost of Brexit (The electorate should have a say on any deal that is finally agreed on the EU and the UK, December 14) but accompanying rising prices and the financial burden is an even greater cost; one that cuts deep, a cost to our social and community cohesion.
The Home Office quietly released a hate crime bulletin in October that partially attributed a 29 per cent increase in hate crime from 2015/16 to 2016/17 to the referendum, and in Camden this is a crucial issue.
As a Labour council candidate for Belsize, the question that I and my fellow candidates are most often asked is: What are we going to do to protect our EU citizen friends and neighbours living in Camden?
It’s an important question that goes to the heart of what it means to be a Belsize resident and a Camdenite and there is much we can do, and are doing.
We can organise and publicise informative events like the Information Event for EU nationals held by the East European Resource Centre in Fortune Green. Such events help to provide support and up-to-date information on the rights of EU nationals in the face of Brexit.
Then there are the conversations we have on the doorstep. My fellow candidates Sucharita Sethi, Momota Khatoon and I are proud Londoners, proud Camden residents, and most of all proud Europeans.
We stand in solidarity with all our communities and will fight to ensure Camden’s EU national residents and workers are front-and-centre when it comes to council policy. Camden voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU but EU nationals couldn’t vote in that referendum.
On May 3, in the local elections, they can vote. It’s a crucial vote and, as Labour candidates, we are all committed to carrying the voices of our EU nationals.
While Camden Tories are courting hard-line “Leavers”, inviting Brexiteers such as Jacob Rees-Mogg to their events with Priti Patel pitching up in January, this is not a reflection of what Belsize residents believe or how they voted.
While it’s true that the social cost of Brexit is only going to increase the closer we move to the UK’s eventual leave date, we are a borough brimming with energy, comprising different communities and this makes us special.
In May we have an opportunity to stay true to our spirit and support our EU national residents and friends at the ballot box.
JAMES CALMUS, WC1
