Comment

Candidate statement: Ben Rend

The Rejoin EU candidate for Hendon

Hendon Central station

Brexit has been a blight on this country, the like of which I never thought I’d see.

Having arrived in the UK originally as a refugee from Yugoslavia in the 90s, I found the UK to be a friendly, welcoming & progressive environment.

As you can imagine, being of half-Serb half-Croat origin and a member of the LGBT community where I came from was not welcoming at the time!

But the UK has changed over the last 30 years: the same nasty nationalist, discriminatory and anti-immigrant environment I saw emerge in my country of origin now seems to be getting stronger and stronger here.

Brexit has isolated this country from the rich cultural environment where we could once freely move amongst some of the greatest cities in the world.

No longer is taking a holiday easy, no longer is studying abroad an option for our young people and now business across the UK is being inhibited by new red tape, delays and inefficiencies that perpetuate the cost of living crisis.

If elected to parliament, I will ensure no week goes by without the government being pressed over its relationship with our nearest neighbours and pushed to do better.

Statements from the other seven candidates: Gabrielle Bailey – Green Party, Clareine Enderby – Liberal Democrats, Jane Gibson – Social Democratic Party, Ameet Jogia – Conservative, Imtiaz Palekar – Workers Party, Joshua Pearl – Reform UK, David Pinto-Dushchinsky – Labour

Note: Barnet Post approached all candidates for the borough’s seats and offered them the opportunity to make a 250-word statement. The purpose of these statements is to give voters the clearest possible understanding of the perspectives of people who are asking for their support. In doing this, we acknowledge that some views expressed my cause offence and distress and apologise if this is the case.


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