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Monday, December 07, 2020

All Labour Councillors should follow Haringey and resist the deportation of homeless people.



Solidarity with Haringey Council, who have made clear that they won’t be sharing data with the Home Office to facilitate the Government’s disgraceful policy of deporting any non-UK nationals who are rough sleepers.

This is a cause which Labour Party members and trade unionists need to take up - to demand that all local authorities follow suit (not only Labour authorities -there is already a petition addressed to Brighton and Hove’s Green-led administration).


Like all immigration controls this latest measure is not at all about controlling immigration, but about ensuring that migrant workers suffer a life "less eligible" than those of "indigenous" people so as to police the behaviour of all workers.


More than fourteen years ago, I wrote on this blog about the importance of UNISON’s policy in favour of an amnesty for undocumented migrant workers.


Undocumented migrant workers provide a “reserve army of labour” who can be drawn upon when the labour market is buoyant and discarded easily when that suits the interests of their employers. The availability of such a pool of labour undermines the strength of all workers.


Only the most stupid and reactionary elements of the labour movement think that the answer to this is to support the exclusion or expulsion of migrant workers. This futile policy - futile because the Government lacks the capacity to expel or deport all those who are here without “proper documentation” - does not correspond to the interests of any working people in this country.


The interests of all workers who live in the territory of the United Kingdom are best served by protecting and enhancing the rights of all working people, including those whom the Government wish to deport (whether because they are rough sleepers or for some other reason). When all workers can rely upon the rights which currently attach to citizenship, or some other “lawful” status then we can organise together to enlarge those rights - and ultimately to transform society.

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