An open letter to Keir Starmer: speak up on Settled Status before it’s too late

Days ahead of the deadline for Settled Status applications, more than 400 Labour supporters have written to the Labour leader.

Since this letter was published, Labour has now called on the government to extend the deadline for applications, but only until September. 

Dear Keir,

On Wednesday 30th June, the deadline for Settled Status will pass and any European citizen who has yet to apply to the scheme could lose their access to benefits, healthcare, livelihood and even their right to be in the place they have built a home.

The existence of the Settled Status application process is itself a betrayal of the promises that Leave campaigners made during the EU referendum. Again and again, European citizens were told that their right to stay would be automatic. Instead, more than five million people are being forced through a dysfunctional system. Soon, they will be brought under the regime of an increasingly digitised and aggressive Hostile Environment.

The government is saying that the scale of applications demonstrates the success of the scheme – but the scale only serves to demonstrate the fact that we have no idea how many Europeans actually live here. It also means that, even with very low failure rates, the numbers of people whose lives could be ruined are very high. While most applications have been approved, millions are being given ‘pre-Settled Status’, meaning they could be refused in future, and some have already been rejected outright.

Many vulnerable people – those without adequate computer literacy, children in care, people suffering personal crises – will not yet have applied. Meanwhile, the government has only very recently changed the rules on Covid exemptions, meaning that many people are unaware that they are now eligible. The Home Office says it will assess late applications on a case-by-case basis, but this gives no one any guarantees.

So far, Labour has not said or done enough about this situation. Last year, all other opposition parties signed up to the Right to Stay principle – replacing the application process with an automatic one – but Labour declined to do so. It has yet to prominently raise the issue either in parliament or in the press.

It is simply inexcusable for Labour to remain quiet. The status of hundreds of thousands of people is on the line.

That is why we are asking Labour to:

  • Use every available parliamentary mechanism – votes, debates and PMQs – to call on the government to drop the deadline, and to win meaningful guarantees for late applicants if it is not dropped.
  • Sign up to support the Right to Stay principle, and campaign for its implementation after the deadline has passed.
  • Speak out on the rights of migrants and against the Hostile Environment.

Yours Sincerely,

Laura Parker, former Momentum National Coordinator

Michael Chessum,  Another Europe is Possible national organiser

Alena Ivanova, Labour Campaign for Free Movement

Gaya Sriskanthan, National Co-Chair of Momentum, Labour International CLP

Julie Ward, Former Labour MEP, NW Durham CLP

Sandy Martin, Ipswich  CLP and former MP

Ian Allinson, Manchester TUC exec, personal capacity

Deborah Hermanns, Momentum NCG member, Camberwell and Peckham CLP

Tracy Murphy , Ipswich CLP

Dave Levy,  Secretary of Lewisham Deptford CLP and GMB X58 Branch President

Joan Twelves, Vauxhall CLP

Cllr Jo Bird, Secretary, Birkenhead CLP

Magi Young, Exeter CLP

Hannah Sawtell, Nottingham East CLP

Tina May

Christopher Rogers, Hornsey and Wood Green CLP

Marianne Kate

Martin Horan

Jenny Howell, Islington North CLP

Tonia Ilia, Islington North CLP

Sophia Mangera

Jerry Elsmore, Branch Chair Unite the Union NE/208/6, Sheffield Brightside & Hillsborough CLP

Daniel Nichols, Romford CLP

Tamara Dragadze

Sandra King 

Valerie Eve Jeffries, Faversham and mid Kent CLP

Jon Keyte

Lizzie White, Bristol West CLP

Sue Mew, Walthamstow  CLP

Margaret Symonds, South Thanet CLP

Graham Southall, Wirral South CLP

Jo Haffenden

Elizabeth Alway

Jilly Grower, Bournemouth East CLP 

Sacha Ismail, Unite LE 524 branch

Bob Smith, Stretford and Urmston CLP. 

Timothy Stiles, North Herefordshire CLP

Sally Farrands , Nottingham East CLP

Martyn Hobbs

Karen Archer, Putney CLP

John Gaskell, South West Surrey CLP

David Taylor-Gooby, Easington CLP

Christopher Campbell, North Herefordshire CLP

Chris Jones, Coventry NW CLP

Peter Cuthbert

Cllr Mike Roberts, Aldershot CLP

Mike Rowley, Labour Councillor, Oxford East  CLP

Sarah Perrigo, Political Education Officer , Leeds NE CLP

  1. Beaumont

Sarah Jones, Milton Keynes CLP

Margaret Jones, Milton Keynes CLP

Philip Cernym, Emeritus Professor, University of Manchester, York Central

Eleanor Llewelyn

Jim Jones

Glyn Jones, Milton Keynes CLP

Hanne Lee, Richmond Park CLP

Dr. R.L.Symonds, Chair Broadstairs Branch LP and  Chair, Dover, Deal and Thanet Cooperative Party, South Thanet CLP

Helen Tucker, CLP Political Education & Training Officer, Workington

Jim Brookes, Thornbury and Yate CLP

James Ryder, Labour International  CLP

Stephen McNair, Political Education Officer, Broadland  CLP

Meg van Rooyen, Warwick and Leamington  CLP

Rita O Brien, CLP Vice Chair, Canterbury 

Hilary Fraser, Bath CLP

Jean Churm

Jeremy Lynton

Ruth Tetlow

Paul Pateman

Rosemary Bechler, Haringey

Elizabeth Cannon

Benjamin Eckford Youth Officer and North East regional rep, Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform, personal capacity, Newcastle upon Tyne North CLP

Stuart Cox, Dover/Deal CLP

Timothy Mullen, Stoke-on-Trent South CLP

Jane Wheeler

Kas Witana, CLP Political Education Officer, Penistone and Stocksbridge

Barbara Veale, Lewisham Deptford  CLP

Andreas Latta, Wycombe CLP

Chris Lawrence, Wimbledon CLP

Jane Caplan, Oxford East CLP

Alan White, Streatham CLP

Martin Vegoda, Bristol West CLP

Linda Reilly

Susan Loppert , Islington South CLP

Catherine Lynott Wilson, Brighton Labour

Joan Green, Cambridge CLP

Hunter Christian Christopher, Young Fabian International Network Secretary, Finchley & Golders Green CLP

Alyson Fisk, Newark  CLP

Wyn Jeffery, Itchen Southampton CLP

Heidy Kempe-Böttcher

Tracey Hylton, Liverpool Riverside CLP

Felicity Taylor Holborn and St Pancras CLP

Susan Loppert ,  Islington South CLP

Bryony Abis

Liz Strutt

Maria Carrol, Secretary and PPC, Carmarthen East & Dinefwr CLP

Paul Leon John Mackney, Former General Secretary of UCU (Natfhe), Chipping Barnet CLP

Fil Baker

Barry Warwick , Mid Derbyshire CLP

Erica Levy, Hornsey and Wood Green  CLP

Angela Royston, Islington North CLP

Ann-Marie Casely, Mid Derbyshire CLP

Farah Wise

Judy Atkinso,  Trade union liaison officer, Brentford and Isleworth CLP

Kait Duerden , Montgomeryshire  CLP

Victoria Deakin, Wallasey CLP

Gordon McHugh, Witney CLP

Paul Grover, Braintree CLP

Ann Hughes, Secretary Lichfield City Branch, Lichfield  CLP

Ann Rosenberg, Councillor, Fulham & Chelsea  CLP

Gavin Edwards, Emeritus Professor of English, University of South Wales, Walthamstow CLP

Helen Froggatt, Montgomeryshire CLP

Jenny Budd, Bristol North West CLP

David Utting, St Albans CLP

Alex Barlow

Jane Terris, Montgomeryshire 

Mark Cunliffe, Stratford District CLP

Peter Taylor

Pat Farrington, Hornsey and Wood Green CLP

Joanne Burnett

David N Berman

Joan Girling, Suffolk Coastal  CLP

Mike Dolan, Weaver Vale CLP

Chris Billing, Totnes CLP

Ben Duncan-Duggal, Youth Officer, Knights Hill, Dulwich and West Norwood  CLP

Brian Cantrill

Chris Jefferies

Gary Milne

Fran Springfield, Co-Chair Disability Labour, Vauxhall CLP

Susan Foreman 

Pam Hunter, Sunderland Central CLP

Darran McLaughlin, Bristol West CLP

Peter Newby, Lewisham West and Penge CLP

Albert Owen Davies-Smith, St Albans CLP

Dominic Jackson, Bury North CLP

Michael Roberts, Blyth Valley CLP

Rosalynne Birch, Councillor, Oldham East and Saddleworth  CLP

Chris Barker, Hornsey and Wood Green CLP

Melanie Crowley, Birmingham Hall Green  CLP

Angela Thompson

Dr Pauline McGovern, Chorley CLP

Monica Threlfall, Holborn & St Pancras CLP

Tej Singh Bhandal, Ashley Political Education officer, Bristol West CLP

Paula Lewis, Preseli Pembrokeshire  CLP

Alison Allan, Bristol West CLP

George Abramson, Keighley CLP

Helen Pickering, Leeds NW CLP

Kate Mortimer

Lesley Merchant

Chris Park

Chris Dommett

Mark Beckles Willson, Sheffield Hallam CLP

Dawn Renfrew, Dumfries and Galloway CLP

Rosemary Stammers

Patrick Blandford, Taunton Deane CLP 

Roger Wells, Member of Co-operative Party

John Bainbridge

Mathew Hardy

Stephen Smith

Alison Smerdon

Kathleen Heywood, South Holland and Deeping CLP

Angie Smith, Sheffield Heeley CLP

Roland England, Chipping Barnet CLP

Pete Adams, Portsmouth South CLP

Romy Clark, Fleetwood and Lancaster CLP

Carol Westall, Hexham CLP

Janet Wise

Christine Stockton, Chester CLP

Ruth Fullam, Cardiff West CLP

Dave Lewis, Camberwell & Peckham CLP 

Mike Vessey, Chelsea & Fulham  CLP

Mike Bird,  Secretary of Aberconwy CLP

Patrick Hannay, Editor Touchstone the Journal for Architecture in Wales

Kenneth Thompson, Rotherham CLP

Sandy Paul, EC member of Poplar and Limehouse CLP

Malcolm Askew

Pete Marsh

Jonathan Davidson, Birmingham Ladywood  CLP

Roger Coates

Don Sanderson, Penrith and the Border CLP

Humphrey Woods

John Handford, Macclesfield CLP

Hong Luo, TSSA Delegate, York CLP

Martin Smith

Lynne Armstron, Women’s Officer, Bognor Regis & Littlehampton CLP

Margo Sheridan, Lewisham Deptford CLP

Stella East, Peacehaven CLP

Marc Mckiernan, Haltwhistle CLP

Ruth Milsom, Councillor, Sheffield Hallam CLP

Robert Francis Collis, Gedling  CLP

Lizzy Cooper, Women’s Officer/Branch Chair, Aberconwy  CLP

Tim McCann, Board Member, Final Say For All Foundation, Warrington South CLP

Ali Robinson

Tim Mohun, Islington North CLP

Dick Hunter, York Central CLP

Thomas Blomberg, Kensington CLP

Diana Urquhart, North East Hampshire CLP

Lucy Craig, Hornsey & Wood Green CLP

Nayra Bello Oshanahan, Hampstead and Kilburn 

Teresa Young

Josephine Howard

Mary Wyatt, Membership Secretary, Suffolk Coastal CLP

David Otterspn, Stockton North CLP

Rachel Boulton, Hornsey and Wood Green CLP

Judith Tigerschiold, Norwich South CLP

Linda Goldsmith, 

John Lipetz, Hampstead & Kilburn CLP

David Brough, Harrow East CLP

Janet Foy

Peter Brimson, Leyton and Wanstead CLP

Natacha Kennedy, Founder Member of Labour Trans Equality, Eltham CLP

Matt Ruane

Jan Fullforth

Katharine Sheehy Brade, Aberconwy CLP

Irena Paxton, Cardiff South and Penarth  CLP

David Margolies, Branch environmental rep, Lewisham Deptford CLP

Geraldine Egan, Birmingham Edgbaston CLP

Robert Hughes, Burnley CLP

Adrian Finney, Southend East CLP

Lila Guha

Lorina Pilgrim, Brentford and Isleworth CLP

Claire McArthur

Andrew Blackburn

Emma Jones, Oxford West & Abingdon CLP

Shona Jemphrey, Bristol East CLP EC member 

Les Ward

Julie Ball

Helen Bradford

John Garrett, Coventry South CLP

Jane Carey

John Logsdon, Manchester Withington CLP

James Mercer, South Dorset CLP

Sandra Stevens

David Coppard

Tony Papard

Kila Millidine, Preseli CLP

Sue Sparks

Stephen Tompsett, Winchester  CLP

Jacqueline Lavelle, Montgomeryshire CLP

Robert Turner

Sandra Holvey 

Stewart Eame

Kyle Bellamy, Edinburgh Northern and Leith CLP

Kirsten Downer, Lewisham Deptford CLP

Caroline Maughan, Enfield Southgate CLP

Pauline King, Buckingham CLP

Charlie Kiss, Poplar and Limehouse  CLP

John Edwin Porter

Gabrielle Saunders

Mike Maughan, Enfield Southgate CLP

Deborah Lawrence-Wilson, Oxford West and Abingdon CLP

John Murray, Hornsey and Wood Green CLP

Emma Tristram

David Trevanion, S Norfolk CLP

Konnie Lloyd, Broxtowe CLP

Nicky Bashall, Colne Valley CLP

Dorothy Whittaker, Penistone and Upper Don CLP

Kathleen Parker

Glyn Hambrook, Harrogate & Knaresborough CLP

Liz Yorke

Clare Winstanley, Hornsey & Wood Green CLP

Steve Rouse, South Swindon  CLP

Robert Dimmick, Reading East CLP

Andy Warren,. Lewisham Deptford CLP

Margaret Rogers

Cecilia Hall, S. Cambs. CLP

Iain Mentiply

David Jones

Peter Redfarn

William Wynn

Duncan Morrison, Lewisham NEU, Branch Secretary, Lewisham Deptford CLP

Dave Jones,  Lichfield

Charlie Hore, UNISON steward

Cath Fletcher

Randy Banks, Labour Party Branch Secretary, Ealing Central and Acton CLP

Andy Wilson

Keith Reader, Islington North CLP

Hilda Palmer, Blackley and Broughton  CLP

Kathleen Burley, Barnsley East CLP

Fran Zujans, Leamington CLP

James Jacobs , Broxtowe  CLP

Paul McGivern, Hull West and Hessle  CLP

Andy Cunningham, NEU South West Lancashire Assistant Secretary

Margaret Madterman, Secretary of Boston and Skegness CLP

Louise McIntosh, Bath CLP

Michael Farmer, Policy Officer of Cheltenham  CLP

Dr J Wilkinson

Rosemary Challands, Montgomeryshire CLP

Sabine Ebert-Forbes, Keighley and Ilkley CLP

Irene Brennan, Wirral West CLP

Melvyn Jackson

Kate Hinton, Newcastle North CLP

Fraser Robertson

A Congreve

Colin Roth

Edna Mullen, Stoke-on-Trent South CLP

IreneNorman

Steve Raggett, Coseley East CLP

Daniel Key, Bristol East Labour Party

Teri Dale

Anthony Dale

Andrea Gilbert, Women’s Officer  of Putney  CLP

Stephen Armstrong, Retired Headteacher, Lewisham East CLP

Roy Mogdridge

Mary Clarke, Kingston upon Hull North CLP

Geoff Taylor, Guildford CLP

Carole Leathwood, Eastbourne CLP

Julie Harper, Stroud  CLP

Julie Rowley, Sleaford and N Hykeham CLP

Ruth Klassen Green, Tottenham  CLP

Maxey Pete Maxen

Susan Toft, Ealing Southall CLP

Jennifer Runham, Vice-Chair, Trumpington BLP, Cambridge  CLP

David Eatock, Altrincham & Sale West CLP

Olivia Ouwehand, Unite NW389 Equalities Rep

Jason Travis

John Page, Hertford and Stortford CLP

Edward mc Williams

John Shore, Bethnal Green and Bow CLP

Christine Oestreicher, Haringey

Celia Stephenson-Bird

Janis Beavon, Bristol South CLP

Susan Pashkoff, Women’s Officer and Chair Women’s Branch of Leyton and Wanstead CLP

Gordon Brown, South Shields  CLP

Cat Villiers, Chelsea, Hamersmith & Fulham CLP

Rowena Foote

Frances Alexander

David Renton, Barrister, Garden Court chambers

Ron Smith 

Christiane Eck , Walthamstow CLP

Maciej Psyk, European Movement in Wandsworth and Morden

Jess Achilleos, Wirral South CLP

Penelope Rose Sharples

Tim Harris, Executive Committee member, Leyton and Wanstead CLP

Dermot O’Hara

Anna Lyon, Winchester CLP

Carol Law

Julian Wilson, CLP Chair in Tonbridge and Malling 

Dave Burn, Finchley and Golders Green CLP

Walter Riley, Chester CLP

Stephen Collingwood, Croydon Central CLP

Robert Carter

Carole Vincent , Leyton & Wanstead CL

Chris Jones, Wyre Forest CLP

Joseph Healy, UNITE National LGBT+ Committee

Beki Moon

Clare Speedie, Stirling CLP

Brenda Coulson, Wigan Central  CLP

Leila Kozma

Penny Mitchell, Wavertree CLP

Terry Walker, Brighton Pavilion CLP

Sarah Dutton, Tewkesbury  CLP

Seán Orr, Leyton and Wanstead  CLP

Jon Johnson, Lewisham Deptford CLP

Lorraine Hardy, Labour International  CLP

Natalie Sedacca, Islington South & Finsbury  CLP

Jo Archer 

David Gore, Lewisham Deptford  CLP

Gillian S Nobbs

Anthony Stapleton, Edmonton CLP

Margaret Manning, Unite Member

Susan Dorrel, Tottenham CLP

Victoria Fisher, North Swindon  CLP

Frankie Elen, Wells CLP

Tony Byrnes, Walthamstow CLP

Renate Aspden

David Blackman, Oxford East CLP

John Boarder, Rhyl, Clwyd

John Baker-Rabe

Sue Vaughan, South Norfolk CLP 

James Roberts, Harrogate & Knaresborough CLP

Julia Marsh

Sari Cantrill

Linda Roff

Martha Young, West Oxford and Abingdon CLP

Mrs Carol Milnes, Coventry North West CLP

Allison Drew

Niccolo Milanese, European Alternatives, International

Jennie Turner, Lewisham West & Penge CLP

Hilary Wilkey

Simon Rowling

Caroline Pike

Mike Bird, Vice-chair Unite Branch NW389

Sue Underwood, Chippenham  CLP

Barbara Callender, Chairperson,  European Movement in Wandsworth and Merton, Battersea  CLP

Michael Dyer-Evans

Susan Christian, Oswestry CLP

Derek Fraser, NEU school Rep

Hilary Lewis, Bristol South CLP

Patrick Wood, Richmond Park CLP

Sally Gilmour

Jim Jepps

Alan Crawshaw

Graham Martin, York CLP

Megan Eden Coyne, Bolton CLP

Lindsey Iqbal

Dr Sam Hollings, North Swindon CLP

Julia Reason

John Chowcat, Folkestone and Hythe CLP

Sara Turner, Battersea  CLP

Sarah  Lasenby, Oxford East

Hazel Chowcat, Folkestone & Hythe CLP

Mike O’Neill, Abingdon & West Oxford CLP

Richard Robinson, Bracknell CLP

Jenny Purkis

27th June 2021