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Cllr Richard Watts, Leader of Islington Council, blogs about the recent EU rally at Islington Town Hall

This week (21 March), the Prime Minister announced that she plans to trigger Article 50 on Wednesday 29 March, officially beginning the UK’s withdrawal from EU membership.

Last week, I spoke at a packed ‘Islington IN Europe’ rally at Islington Town Hall, where I promised to defend the rights of the 17,000 EU citizens living in Islington to stay in Britain. I spoke alongside some high profile speakers about our future relationship with the EU: campaigner Gina Miller, columnist Professor Anthony Grayling and dramatist Bonnie Greer.

You can watch a video of the rally and my speech here:

I am proud to call Islington home. It is a fiercely multi-cultural borough, where people from across the world live, work and contribute to our community. These people are our friends, neighbours and family. They are also business owners and entrepreneurs, and many of them work for our vital public services.

Islington Labour campaigned hard to remain in the EU and a record number of people turned out to vote in Islington -; 75% of whom voted to ‘remain’. Many of us were heartbroken that the UK as a whole voted the other way.

The priority for us now is to ensure that Islington remains a tolerant, diverse and welcoming borough, as it always has been. We will not see politics played with the lives of our neighbours.

 

Pictured – Cllr Richard Watts, Leader of Islington Council, speaking at the ‘Islington IN Europe’ rally (with thanks to ‘Islington IN Europe’ for producing the image and video)

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