Richard Olszewski at the campaign launch

CAMDEN Labour will offer a softer stance on immigration on the election campaign trial over the next five weeks than some of their national counterparts, writes Richard Osley.

Local organisers are ready to use Camden’s status as a “borough of a sanctuary” as a major plus point when talking to voters.

It follows some private concern about the choice of language used nationally when Labour figures have tried to confront the rise of Reform with tough talk on small boats and deportation planes.

Council leader Councillor Richard Olszewski could hardly have been clearer during his speech at the campaign launch event on Saturday, as he reflected on what Labour had done while governing Camden for the past four years.

“Our proudest achievement, one that goes to the heart of our values, is to have won official recognition as a borough of sanctuary,” he said.

“It is a result of determined action to show that in Camden everyone is welcome, everyone’s place here is legitimate and we welcome asylum seekers and we welcome refugees. Camden is a welcoming home for all – and that is the truest Labour value in practice.”

While Sir Keir Starmer is generally liked as the local MP among the membership, there was frustration at his line about the UK as an “island of strangers” – of which he later said he regretted – and a comment at a general election hustings organised by The Sun newspaper in which he said that he wanted to see deportation planes jetting off as soon as he got into power.

He name-checked Bangladesh as a place where people were coming from.

Again, he sought to clarify these comments later – celebrating the contributions of Bangladeshis in Camden and elsewhere in the UK.

It was made more awkward when the Liberal Democrats in Camden suggested his comments would only lead to more prejudice.

As a council, Camden has been one of the leading local authorities in terms of projects on refugees, and councillors have unreservedly faced down the national press over work it has done with Ukrainian and Afghan asylum seekers in schemes like the major one in Highgate Newtown.

Cllr Olszewski said the council had also taken steps to directly help people suffering with the cost-of-living crisis by removing the requirement to pay council tax from the borough’s least well off residents and providing a crisis fund.

He said if Labour is re-elected in Camden it would press ahead with its plans for a fairer economy – and not one characterised by rich companies operating side by side with people living in desperate conditions.

He said despite the number of thriving “global institutions” which had made Camden home, “40 per cent of children in Camden are still living in poverty”.

Cllr Olszewski added: “We have to tackle that – we want economic success in Camden but it can’t come at the price of inequality. That’s why we signalled our intent to build a truly inclusive economy.”

Labour’s election manifesto, titled A Borough For Everyone, is the longest from all the political parties at 44 pages. Pledges include a £670million investment in council home upgrades.

The document also said that a Labour-run council would continue a small and large grants programme for organisations helping refugees and asylum seekers.

The party also pledges to “engage with all schools” on an anti-racism curriculum.