A manifesto on migration and integration for the next Mayor of London

In my last blog I had a brief look at the current mayoral campaign in London. I reviewed the areas where the Mayor's activities, duties and responsibilities touch upon immigration and the integration of migrants. Given that this is not one of the key areas where the Mayor has direct responsibility and a large budget, it has not figured in the campaign up to date. It is nevertheless a key issue for the city and through its role of coordinating action, showing leadership and championing London the Mayor can make a decisive and positive contribution in making London a city that welcomes migrants.

Today we are presenting a list of what we believe are some of the points candidates should address with regards to migration and integration and we suggest a number of proposals that if taken up by candidates would show commitment to maintaining London as a welcoming place for migrants, creating the conditions for the successful incorporation of new arrivals and responding to some of the challenges brought by demographic change.

The proposals touch on the various roles of the Mayor. Some of them involve the Mayor making the case for policies that benefit London and using its high-profile position to put forward positive public messages on migration. Other proposals urge the Mayor to use its influence in coordinating and showing leadership within London to improve opportunities and outcomes for migrants and their communities. Finally, some proposals deal with the actions and strategies developed and implemented by the Mayor. The most prominent of these are the migrant and refugee integration strategy and the London Strategic Migration Partnership (LSMP), but we also call for commitments to ensure migrants take part in the development of the Mayor’s statutory strategies.

The Asks

The first ask we have for candidates to Mayor of London is to speak publicly on their views on the role of migration and migrants in London. We are asking for a commitment to maintaining London an open, inclusive and welcoming city, acknowledging the contribution that people born abroad make to the city’s economy and culture. In the context of a generally negative public debate on immigration, a statement of this sort by aspiring leaders to a powerful post could have a big impact. There is a long way from statements to actions but with a negative on non-committal public position it will be difficult to make headway on any actions.

We are asking for commitments to maintain an integration strategy and the LSMP beyond the end of the current strategy in 2013. It is important for a city like London, where a third of the population is born abroad and that receives around a third of the UK’s migrants, should have a published document stating its views on integration and setting out actions to achieve it and a body to coordinate its delivery. The strategy has limited resources but the Mayor has significant power to set out a city-wide vision and to bring together others to make it happen.

We also ask for a review of the engagement mechanisms between the Greater London Authority and organisations led by or working with migrants. At present the only formal engagement mechanism is through the migrant and refugee advisory panel and the second tier civil society organisations sitting at the LSMP. However, the former is constituted by individuals appointed by the GLA and the latter do not have a mechanism to feedback and consult with migrant and refugee community organisations. This is an area where improvements could be made and ideas from candidates would be welcome.

We ask the candidates to commit to advocate for and monitor key issues for migrants. These include generally national immigration policy, asking the Mayor to make the case for policies that benefit London. One specific issue that we ask candidates to address is options for regularising London’s sizeable irregular population, an issue that was on the agenda at the last election but has subsequently ceased to be a matter for active consideration. recently.

At the London level we ask for a commitment to monitor services that are key for migrant integration but have seen challenges as the funding environment has shifted in the last few years. These include accessible English Language tuition and legal advice. We also ask for monitoring of compliance of equalities duties with regards to migrants by public bodies in London. Last year it was reported that very few London boroughs, for example, were explicitly including migrant communities within their statutory equality schemes.

MRN would like organisations led by and working with migrants to make suggestions to this manifesto and to endorse it with a view to putting it forward to candidates in a few weeks. Please let us know what you think of the manifesto and whether you would like to endorse it.

Are there any issues that the Mayor of London should be taking up in their work that we have missed? Do you have suggestions to add to the list of asks for the candidates? Please put your ideas down in the comments section or send us an email to j.camilo@migrantsrights.org.uk and we will consider them for inclusion in the document.

If your organisation would like to endorse this manifesto please let us know by email and we will add your name.