Letters to the editor: Don’t deny migrant kids education

 
17 March 2015
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Nigel Farage’s off-the-cuff suggestion that immigrants’ children should be deprived of state education is divisive and discriminatory.

His proposal, though made frivolously, would seriously undermine fundamentally Article 28 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which states that children have a right to education. However, Mr Farage wishes for this right to be compromised. Is he suggesting that those children whose families are unable to pay for private education should not attend school at all?

In addition, by stating that he is in favour of preventing new immigrants from bringing their dependents with them to the UK to start with, Mr Farage is advocating the separation of children from their parents, which would result in tearing migrant families apart.

Ukip’s desire that immigrants should “pay into the pot before they take out of it” for five years neglects the fact that immigrants contribute to our economy from day one by working, paying taxes, making products and providing services.
Habib Rahman, chief executive, Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants

Our schools play a vital role in ensuring that immigrants can integrate in society by fostering relationships between children from different communities. They ensure that everyone can draw on the lessons and principles of a common education. Forcing the children of migrants out of state schools would be a disaster.

It would potentially create a ghettoised education system, where the children of migrants grow up separated from the rest of British society and hard-working migrant taxpayers are denied basic services. It would increase tensions between migrants and local communities, and would ensure that many children’s first memories of the UK are ones of suspicion and hostility.
Chai Patel, Migrants Rights’ Network

As a black man who voted for Ukip in the last local and European elections and will do so again at the general election this May, it is obvious to me that Nigel Farage has said nothing new when he says “employers should now be free to discriminate in favour of British-born workers”.

In 2007, Gordon Brown excited delegates by promising to deliver “British jobs for British people”. Sadly but not surprisingly, it is the same Labour leaders and supporters cheering Mr Brown then who are condemning Mr Farage now.

In 2013, Theresa May commissioned a mobile advertising van which drove around the country with a screaming message: “Migrants — go home or face arrest.”

It is these brazen double standards by the main parties that are driving millions of black and white voters, who used to vote Labour and the Conservatives, into the arms of Ukip.
Sam Akaki

Blaze shows the spirit of Battersea

Four days after the fire ripped through the Grand Hall at Battersea Arts Centre, I continue to be overwhelmed by the sheer kindness of people. The spirit of Battersea’s mid-19th century motto — Not For Me, Not For You, But For Us — is alive and kicking.

Thanks to the extraordinary work of the London Fire Brigade we reopened the front third of the building on Saturday. The Capital Project, in the middle third, will continue unaffected. Now we will relocate our Grand Hall shows, rebuild and reinvent our future.

More than 1,750 people have donated over £50,000 and Battersea Power Station has donated £100,000. This will be a fighting fund to help us tackle new challenges in the year ahead.

Cultural buildings are public spaces. The response on social media to the events on Friday demonstrates just how personal people’s relationship can be with these buildings. They are homes for everyone. The friendship of Londoners over the past four days has been awe-inspiring. My team and I would like to say thank you.
David Jubb, Battersea Arts Centre

Ed Balls must take his share of blame

Ed Balls's piece in last Friday’s Standard was a masterclass in political cynicism. No mention of the fact that the mess the Coalition has spent five years cleaning up was partly of his own making. No apology for the devastation that Balls, Ed Miliband and their old boss Gordon Brown left in their wake. No acknowledgement that so many of the long-term, structural problems that are causing economic hardship today were caused by the inaction and incompetence of 13 years of Labour government.

Balls’s political priorities are defined by bolting the stable door after the horse has fled and then, by taxing houses and industries, getting London to pay for the damage.
Ivan Massow, prospective Tory candidate for London Mayor

Please help more of Syria’s refugees

Friday marked the fourth anniversary of the start of the conflict in Syria. Millions have been displaced but fewer than 150 Syrian families have been granted sanctuary in the UK. This is pitiful.

Working with Citizens UK members from across London we are reaching out to local council leaders and MPs, urging them to accept a small quota of UN refugees into their communities. Councils can get EU funding to cover costs, and groups from all backgrounds and faiths are pledging support for new arrivals. Leader of the Royal Borough of Kingston, Cllr Kevin Davis, was the first London leader to act; we hope several more will follow.
Rabbi Danny Rich, Rt Reverend Jonathan Clark and Iman Suliman Gani

New 20mph limit should go further

Why do Transport for London’s designated 20mph areas ignore the outer parts of Zone 2? The proposal terminates the Holloway Road 20mph section at the point where the road shifts to greater residential use, for example. At Archway we have more pedestrians than motor vehicles using our public space. It would be sensible for those vehicles to be limited to 20mph.
Kate Calvert

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in