Lewisham Council, led by the Green party, is set to vote on a motion that would end cooperation with the Home Office on immigration raids. The decision follows the discovery of an email from the Home Office's immigration enforcement team requesting joint operational visits, including potential use of environmental health data to target restaurant workers.
Background of the Motion
The motion, to be voted on next Wednesday, would require the council to review its systems to prevent any collaboration with deportation efforts. The Greens, who hold 40 of the council's 54 seats, are expected to pass the motion easily. This move is part of a broader plan to create a "green crescent" of sanctuary boroughs across London, where councils refuse to assist in immigration enforcement.
Green Party's Stance
Zack Polanski, leader of the Green party, expressed pride in the initiative, stating: "I'm proud of brave, compassionate Green councils in London working to create a corridor of sanctuary where nobody, no matter where they're from or what papers they have, has to live in fear of being snatched away from the place they call home." The Greens won several London boroughs in the May local elections, partly by attracting progressive voters dissatisfied with Labour's migration policies.
Home Office Response
A Home Office spokesperson defended the collaboration, saying: "While all immigration enforcement visits are intelligence-led, we make no apology for joining forces with local authorities to enable information sharing and ultimately fighting criminals who fuel immigration crime." The Labour government has increased immigration raids to historic levels, with a 77% rise in business raids and an 83% increase in arrests since the 2024 election, according to January figures.
Effectiveness of Raids
Despite the increase, the effectiveness of raids is debated. Peter Walsh, senior researcher at the Migration Observatory, noted: "There is evidence that workplace enforcement makes employers think twice about hiring people without the right to work. But with an unauthorised population likely in the high hundreds of thousands, raids can only ever touch a small share of the businesses involved, and reporting has tended to suggest that they remain expensive, resource-intensive and reliant on tipoffs of variable quality."
Lewisham's Sanctuary Status
Lewisham became a sanctuary borough in May 2021 under Labour, welcoming all migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees. However, a 2023 email from the Home Office's immigration enforcement team to the council's food standards team requested assistance with joint operational visits, raising concerns about data sharing. The Green party now aims to review all council spending and data-collection systems to prevent any cooperation with raids, including contracts with organizations like St Mungo's, which apologized in 2019 for sharing information about migrant rough sleepers with the Home Office.
Broader Context
The Green party's initiative comes as Labour faces pressure from voters and Reform UK to take a harder line on immigration. The Home Office has boasted about conducting more raids than the previous Conservative government, but Green-led councils are pushing back. The motion in Lewisham is seen as a first step toward a network of sanctuary boroughs across London.
