Lewisham Council Plans Immigration Raid Review, Lewisham 2026

Key Points

• Lewisham Council has become the first local authority in the UK to pass a motion to review its cooperation with Home Office immigration enforcement and refuse to assist on raids wherever “legally possible”.
• The motion, proposed by the Green administration and cabinet member Cllr Hau-Yu Tam, was formally agreed at a full council meeting on Wednesday evening, 22 July 2026.
• It commits the council to a “comprehensive review” of its systems, processes, data-sharing and service agreements to create a “firewall” between council services and immigration enforcement.
• The measure follows concerns over what the motion describes as a “hostile environment strategy”, including recent raids on car washes, Chinese takeaways, restaurants and nail bars in Lewisham.
• The council will work with the Lewisham Anti-Raids network, the Lewisham Migration Forum and neighbouring Green-led Lambeth Council to develop an “anti-raids sanctuary corridor”.
• Mayor Liam Shrivastava said the move is intended to “protect our diverse communities from Labour’s anti-migrant onslaught”, while the Home Office said it maintains a “collaborative relationship” with the council and that all immigration visits are “intelligence-led”.

Lewisham (South London News) July 24, 2026 – Lewisham Council has become the first local authority in the UK to formally agree a motion that will review its work with Home Office immigration enforcement and refuse to assist on raids wherever “legally possible”. The decision marks a significant development in local government policy on migration, with the council committing to a “comprehensive review” of its systems and processes with the explicit aim of refusing to assist the Home Office or Immigration Enforcement teams during raids, including via police cooperation.

What does the Lewisham motion require the council to do?

As reported by the council’s own press release, the motion titled “Building an anti-raids sanctuary corridor in and beyond Lewisham” was passed at Full Council on 22 July 2026 following debate by councillors. It commits the authority to undertake a review of its systems, processes and data-sharing arrangements to assess how council services interact with immigration enforcement activity. According to the motion text summarised by information governance outlet Info-Gov, the review will look at

“all data-sharing and service agreements to ensure the Council is not facilitating a digital hostile environment and that there is a clear firewall between Council services and immigration enforcement”.

The motion also calls on the council to work with community partners to help ensure migrant residents and businesses have access to information about their legal rights and available support, and to work with the Lewisham Migration Forum to strengthen “trauma-informed, anti-racist, care and evidence-based approaches” to supporting migrant communities.

In addition, it commits Lewisham to working with other councils to develop an “anti-raids sanctuary corridor”, working closely with migrant and law centres, anti-raids networks, faith and community groups, to improve the borough’s sanctuary programmes.

Why did Lewisham move to resist immigration raids?

According to reporting by the Guardian, the Green Party in Lewisham said the motion arises after council staff found an email from the Home Office’s immigration enforcement division requesting assistance for “joint operational visits”, and after evidence emerged that government representatives had sought to use environmental health information to identify restaurant employees.

The motion, proposed by Green Party member Cllr Hau-Yu Tam, calls for the council to condemn what it describes as an increase in immigration raids in the borough and the “regressive” settlement and asset-seizure policies put forward by the Home Secretary.

The motion states that the Government has carried out immigration raids on a number of businesses in Lewisham in the last year, including on car washes, Chinese takeaways, restaurants and nail bars, and that these raids have formed part of a “hostile environment strategy” that

“targets vulnerable refugees and asylum seekers, many of whom are fleeing war and persecution”.

As reported by Cllr Tam’s motion text cited by Info-Gov, the policy is framed as a response to what the council describes as “race-based” targeting of communities and intimidation of workers.

How will the council implement the policy in practice?

As reported by Novara Media, the motion sets out that the review would examine data-sharing and service agreements to ensure there is a “firewall” between council services and immigration enforcement, and will also look at any contracts the council has with groups helping to facilitate raids.

The homelessness charity St Mungo’s may be included in the review after it was found to have shared information with the Home Office about migrant rough sleepers in 2019, the Guardian reported.

The Green Party in Lewisham now intends to scrutinise all its spending and data collection practices to prevent any future cooperation with the Home Office regarding raids, marking what party insiders describe as the initial step toward forming a network of sanctuary boroughs throughout London.

The motion also declares that Lewisham will join with neighbouring Green-led Lambeth to create an “anti-raids sanctuary corridor… to improve… anti-raids resistance” and will review council processes with

“the aim of refusing to assist the Home Office or Immigration Enforcement teams”.

What have local leaders and the Home Office said?

As reported by ITV News London, the mayor of Lewisham, Liam Shrivastava, said the motion forms part of the council’s attempts to “protect our diverse communities from Labour’s anti-migrant onslaught”. He told ITV News London:

“This motion is about being really clear that we are going to protect everyone in our community, and that includes migrant workers.”

A spokesperson for the Home Office, as quoted by the Guardian, remarked that the department maintains a “collaborative relationship” with Lewisham council, adding that “all immigration visits are intelligence-led” and that information sharing is “ultimately about fighting those who exploit workers and fuel crime”.

The Home Office statement emphasised that immigration enforcement operations are conducted on the basis of intelligence and are aimed at addressing criminal exploitation and illegal working.

Which organisations and networks are involved in the anti-raids plan?

As set out in the council’s motion, Lewisham will work with the Lewisham Anti-Raids network “by helping migrant businesses and people targeted by raids understand their legal rights… and ultimately prevent and resist raids”, the Green Party said.

The motion also calls on the council to work with the Lewisham Migration Forum to strengthen “trauma-informed, anti-racist, care and evidence-based approaches” to supporting migrant communities.

The plan also includes collaboration with neighbouring Green-led Lambeth Council to develop an “anti-raids sanctuary corridor” across the two boroughs, working closely with migrant and law centres, anti-raids networks, faith and community groups.

Tribunal magazine quoted Hau-Yu Tam, the council’s cabinet member for “communities, sanctuary and healing”, tabling a motion “to work with Lewisham Anti-Raids to support migrant businesses and those targeted by raids” because

“local and joined-up anti-raids resistance is a form of building care with Lewisham communities”.

Background to the development

The Lewisham motion builds on a longer-running debate over local authority cooperation with central government immigration enforcement, and on specific incidents in the borough that have drawn scrutiny. Reporting by the Guardian highlighted a 2023 email in which the Home Office’s immigration enforcement team reached out to the council’s food standards division for support on “joint operational visits”, and noted evidence that officials had sought to use environmental health information to identify restaurant employees. The council’s motion references a series of raids in the last year on car washes, Chinese takeaways, restaurants and nail bars in Lewisham, which it characterises as part of a “hostile environment strategy”.

The policy also sits within a broader context of previous controversies over data sharing between public bodies and the Home Office. The homelessness charity St Mungo’s, which may be included in Lewisham’s review, apologised in 2019 after it was found to have shared information with the Home Office about migrant rough sleepers.

The Green Party in Lewisham has framed its approach as part of a wider plan to create a “corridor of sanctuary boroughs” across London, with party insiders indicating that the Lewisham vote is the first step in that strategy.

Prediction: How could this development affect Lewisham residents, migrants and local businesses?

If the comprehensive review leads to concrete changes in data-sharing and operational protocols, Lewisham residents who are migrants or who work in small businesses such as car washes, takeaways and nail bars may experience reduced direct contact between council services and immigration enforcement teams.

Access to legal rights information through the Lewisham Anti-Raids network and the Lewisham Migration Forum could make it easier for some individuals to understand their options if they are approached by enforcement officers, potentially reducing the likelihood of immediate detention in certain scenarios.

For local businesses, the council’s stance may create a perception of a more protective environment, which could encourage some migrant workers to report exploitation or unsafe conditions without fearing that routine council interactions will trigger immigration action.

However, the Home Office’s emphasis on intelligence-led operations and its assertion of a “collaborative relationship” with the council suggests that immigration enforcement activity in the borough is unlikely to cease entirely, and may instead rely more heavily on non-council channels.

The “anti-raids sanctuary corridor” with Lambeth could also influence how other London boroughs approach cooperation with immigration enforcement, particularly where Green-led or opposition-run councils are considering similar measures.

Over time, the practical impact will depend on the findings of Lewisham’s review, the extent to which contractual and data-sharing arrangements can be altered within existing legal frameworks, and how central government chooses to respond to the council’s position.