• CREATING a “hostile environment” for immigrants – including, in the truly disgraceful example of the Windrush generation, even people who are British citizens – means making the lives of our neighbours a misery as they go about their daily business.

We were appalled to hear last week about the cases of people wrongfully denied medical treatment, detained, and even deported because the home office under the Conservatives started treating migrants as suspected enemies.

Even close to home, we read with sadness the New Journal’s report of the case of Michael Braithwaite, a teaching assistant in Gospel Oak Primary School, who lost his job as a result of the home office’s Windrush intimidation.

In Camden we know that our diversity is our strength: international students, nurses, doctors, entrepreneurs, and many more provide the energy and spark that makes our capital city one of the world’s greatest.

We know that immigration provides our society with a net benefit, both economically and socially, a surplus that is so badly needed in this time of aging populations, rising pension costs, and central government choking of council funding.

It is not just such sensible economics but basic humanity and common decency that led us, from day one of our campaign, to include among our pledges that we will proudly stand up for the rights of our fellow European citizens to live, study, work, and vote here, especially as the Conservative national government continues its misguided descent towards a disastrous Brexit.

Tory Brexit, and the whole project of shutting off our country from European talent and ambition, is completely contrary to what makes Camden, London, and Britain great.

As your local Labour candidates in Fortune Green and West Hampstead, our position is clear. We stand firmly against Brexit. We will make this argument forcefully, within and outside our party, so that our borough and our country can continue to enjoy the exact same benefits as we currently enjoy under EU membership.

The Conservative national government has singularly failed to persuade the country that this would in any way be possible after Brexit.

Given this, and given that the promises based upon which the people voted for Brexit have been broken so completely (where is the £350million per week for the NHS?), we believe it is democratically necessary for our country to reconsider its future in light of all the new information that has come to light.

We ask voters in West Hampstead and Fortune Green to consider who will be best placed to help persuade national party leaderships and work with the council leadership to campaign effectively for you and your rights. We believe the answer is clear: your local Labour team.

PETER TAHERI
SHIVA TIWARI
NAZMA RAHMAN
Labour candidates for West Hampstead ward

SORIN FLOTI
RICHARD OLSZEWSKI
LORNA RUSSELL
Labour candidates for Fortune Green ward