• RESIDENTS in Belsize are incensed that we are sleep-walking towards a hard and destructive Brexit and lament social fissures that have deepened in which xenophobia and mistrust are flourishing.

As Labour candidates we do not accept the path in which Brexit is being pursued; the well-being of the country is being sacrificed for ideological ambitions. A hard Brexit benefits no one except the very richest in our society.

We need a Brexit that works for all; one that protects trade, jobs, and the economy but also celebrates our relationship with Europe and defends the citizens that choose to live, work and study here.

Along with 87 per cent of our party’s membership we want to stay in the single market.

Across the country Labour councillors are urging a change to the party’s Brexit policy – Hammersmith & Fulham council recently passed a motion asking the government to abandon plans for a hard Brexit and give people a vote on what they will get at the end of negotiation.

Next week Camden will debate a motion in favour of staying in the single market and customs union and we will stand behind the council, its leadership, and its committed Labour councillors.

To those who say Labour is in favour of a hard Brexit, we say we are 600,000 strong and the majority of us are not in favour of that, and neither are many of the councils that Labour leads.

SUCHARITA SETHI
JAMES CALMUS
MOMOTA KHATOON
Labour candidates for Belsize ward