Greater London Authority members have passed a motion condemning Green-led councils, including Waltham Forest, for refusing to cooperate with the Home Office on immigration raids, reports Sebastian Mann, Local Democracy Reporter
Credit: Philafrenzy, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Green-led Waltham Forest Council has been condemned by London Assembly members for saying it will refuse to cooperate with immigration raids.
In July, Lewisham Council said it would no longer help Home Office immigration enforcement teams conduct searches in the borough.
Immigration officers, alongside local authorities and the Metropolitan Police, investigate businesses and restaurants if they believe people working there are in the UK illegally or working in breach of their visa.
Following Lewisham’s lead, Hackney, Haringey, Lambeth, Southwark and Waltham Forest councils have all since adopted the same position.
All six are controlled by the Green Party.
At a London Assembly meeting last week, Reform’s Keith Prince – who also serves as the leader of Havering Council – tabled a motion “condemning” their stances and urging all council to work cooperatively with the Home Office “to enhance our national border security, tackle trafficking, and protect people from exploitation”.
He said immigration enforcement was a “national responsibility” and effective cooperation was “required to ensure the law is applied consistently and vulnerable people are protected”.
The Havering Council leader described the anti-raid policies as “ridiculous” and “activist-driven”.
Councillor Paul Perkins, the leader of Waltham Forest Council, said the authority was proud to be a “borough of sanctuary,” a commitment to “value and celebrate the migrants, refugees and people seeking sanctuary who settled [here]” first taken by the previous Labour administration.
“We are committed to doing everything we can to protect all vulnerable people and ensure that we are not complicit in creating a hostile environment for migrants and refugees,” he added.
The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants has criticised the Home Office’s “hostile” raids for “causing fear” in migrant communities.
Raids “persecute migrants, tear apart our communities and seek to spread fear and division,” the group said.
Cllr Perkins said the administration was “already in the process of reviewing our council’s cooperation with the Home Office and what our statutory duties are”.
The leader added he was “disappointed” that only Green and Lib Dem GLA members voted against the motion.
Waltham Forest Conservatives leader Emma Best, who also sits on the London Assembly, spoke against the policy.
She told the assembly that illegal immigration was a “problem for every single person in our community, whether you’ve been here for five minutes, five years or five generations”.
“[The Greens] have just created corridors to exploit those that are here illegally,” she said.
A spokesperson for the Home Office said the department “made no apology” for “fighting criminals who fuel immigration crime”.
They said: “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.
“Since [Labour came] into power [in July 2024], we have increased immigration enforcement action to the highest level in British history.
“This has delivered an 83% rise in illegal working arrests and 77% rise in raids between 1st July 2024 to 31st December 2025.”
Waltham Forest Migrant Action however said they supported the council’s opposition to Home Office cooperation on immigration raids.
A spokesperson for the organisation told the Echo: “We work to build a community where everyone – regardless of their immigration status – is safe, welcome, and treated with dignity and respect.
“We campaigned, alongside others in Waltham Forest, for a borough of sanctuary, where the council would no longer be complicit in multi-agency immigration enforcement raids. We welcome the new Green Party led council’s commitment to working together to make Waltham Forest a true borough of sanctuary.”
Find out more about Waltham Forest’s Borough of Sanctuary status here
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