Green Party council aims to block Home Office immigration raids | UK | News
Lewisham Council could become the first council in England to ban its management from co-operating with the Home Office on immigration raids. A motion being debated today would see the Greens-led council systematically review its work on immigration enforcement and refuse to assist in raids “wherever legally possible”.
Lewisham mayor Liam Shrivastava said it was part of the council’s attempts to “protect our diverse communities from Labour’s anti-immigrant attack”. He told ITV News London: “This motion is about making it really clear that we will protect everyone in our society, and that includes migrant workers.
“The proposal makes it clear that we are London’s first sanctuary borough. We are very proud of that, but we want to be a sanctuary borough in practice, not just in name.”
Green candidate Liam Shrivastava won the mayoralty in Lewisham on 7 May 2026.
The motion also sees Lewisham working with Lambeth and other Green-led councils to build a raid-proof “Sanctuary corridor” across London. This will include collaborating with immigrant organisations, anti-raid networks, law centres, faith and community groups to share best practices and policies.
Shrivastava continued: “We welcome refugees, we have good working relationships with migration organizations that support refugees and asylum seekers. We have dedicated officers.
“But what we want to do is really broaden the concept of being a sanctuary borough and ensure that those practices and values are embedded across all council services.”
The motion argues that sharing council data with the Home Office regarding immigration enforcement is incompatible with these values.
This follows a 77% increase in illegal work raids since Labor came to power. There were 261 raids in Lewisham alone last year.
The proposals will see the council work with Lewisham Anti-Raids to support immigrant businesses and people targeted by raids and ensure they are aware of their legal rights. It will also partner with organizations in the Lewisham Immigration Forum to strengthen “trauma-informed, anti-racist, caring and evidence-based approaches” to better support immigrant communities.
The council wants to undertake a comprehensive review of its systems and processes to ensure resources are not spent “in a way that harms our communities”.
A Home Office spokesman said: “While all immigration enforcement visits are intelligence-led, we make no apology for joining forces with local authorities to ensure the sharing of information and ultimately tackle criminals fueling immigration crime.
“Since coming to power we have taken Immigration Enforcement action to the highest level in British history.
“This led to an 83% increase in illegal work arrests and a 77% increase in raids between July 1, 2024 and December 31, 2025.”
