My family has been shaped by migration to the UK, maybe yours has too. The way we speak about and treat migrants has to change.
Today, Kim Johnson and I are speaking out against the hateful rhetoric and policies that seek to divide us.
Four years ago today, 39 men and women from Vietnam were found suffocated in the back of a refrigerated lorry in Grays, Essex. Today I honour their lives and remember their needless deaths by calling for change. We do not have to have a migration system that kills people, and dehumanises those who survive. The Britain I know and love is better than that.
We must have a conversation about realistic and humane rules to manage migration. But that conversation starts with our shared humanity. And everyone must always be equal before the law, our international legal obligations upheld, and everyone’s human rights protected.
Let’s put the kindness I know and love about Britain back at the heart of this conversation.
Join us on social media using #BritainAtItsBest.