Refugee Week 2026: Mayor Garbett rebukes Labour’s ‘inflammatory rhetoric’ on migration

Refugee Week 2026 opens today against a backdrop of national hostility to migrants — and a new Green mayor at Hackney Town Hall determined to set her borough apart from it.

Marking the start of the festival, which runs from 15 to 21 June and is described by its organisers as the world’s largest arts and culture event celebrating the contributions, creativity and resilience of refugees and people seeking sanctuary, Mayor Zoë Garbett has welcomed Hackney’s status as a Borough of Sanctuary and rejected what she calls the Labour government’s “inflammatory rhetoric against migrants”.

In a statement given to the Hackney Citizen, Mayor Garbett said that “to truly be a borough that welcomes, supports and champions migrants means calling out the national government’s continuation of the hostile environment, which a Green council will do.”

She added that her new Green-controlled council will “reject inflammatory rhetoric against migrants by this Labour government and promote social cohesion, supporting migrants to put down roots here.

“We have a deep interwoven history of solidarity across communities in this borough. We want a Hackney where people from all walks of life can be part of a thriving and caring community. We are proud to stand with migrants and refugees.”

A festival on the theme of courage

This year’s Refugee Week has been organised around the theme of courage. In a recent statement headed “Courage Belongs to Us All”, its organisers said the 2026 festival takes place at a moment when “some communities are experiencing rising hostility, division and uncertainty”, noting “incidents of racism, violence and attempts to disrupt events that celebrate welcome, inclusion and belonging”.

Borough of Sanctuary

Hackney’s status as a Borough of Sanctuary was officially recognised in early March, granted for three years following the previous Labour council’s formal application to City of Sanctuary UK and the adoption of Hackney’s Borough of Sanctuary framework and action plan — co-produced by the previous council and Sanctuary ambassadors with lived experience of seeking sanctuary.

The designation affirms the borough’s commitment to offering safety and support to sanctuary seekers, and gives the new administration a formal framework against which to be judged.

National crackdown

The “inflammatory rhetoric” Garbett accuses the government of — and which she contrasts with Hackney’s own values — has been accompanied by a set of changes to the immigration system under home secretary Shabana Mahmood.

The changes, which have been heavily criticised by Labour backbenchers, include an end to permanent refugee status; the removal of government support from asylum seekers who have been working illegally or who are deemed not to need it; and a pilot scheme offering 150 families whose claims had been rejected £40,000 to return to their countries.

With Sir Keir Starmer’s primary challenger for the Labour leadership, Andy Burnham, having said he would back Mahmood’s changes, it seems unlikely that the government’s direction of travel will alter — sharpening the contrast with Hackney’s own.

In the Hackney Greens’ 2026 manifesto, published in the run-up to May’s local elections, the party pledged to oppose national policy in unsparing terms: “We welcome all the contributions that migrants and refugees make to British society and which help make Hackney the wonderful place it is today. The current national Labour government has introduced policies that cause untold harm to migrants and their families, and have used inflammatory rhetoric against migrants, emboldening the far-right to the point where we now have fascists marching on our streets.”

Migrant Champion

Mayor Garbett assured the Citizen that, in relation to asylum, her new administration had already begun delivering on its pledges, having “met with Citizens UK to discuss access [to] free English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) classes”.

“We are also working on appointing a councillor Migrant Champion,” she added. “This was part of the party’s manifesto as a practical step to ensure that positive words become real actions.”

The role, as outlined in the Greens’ manifesto, would see a designated councillor act as “an advocate for migrant residents, and for migrants’ rights issues within the local council and as part of the Migrant Champions Network“.

The administration faces its first electoral test on 25 June — four days after Refugee Week ends — when residents in Hackney Central and Dalston have the chance to vote in two by-elections.