Councillor Hau-Yu Tam joins Green Party, bringing Greens back onto Lewisham council
Councillor Tam represents Evelyn ward, North Deptford. She left Labour in July 2024, over her support for Palestine.
Councillor Hau-Yu Tam was joined by Green Party Deputy Leader, Zack Polanski at Catford Civic Suite on Monday, when she announced that she has joined the Green Party. She had been sitting as an independent since she left the Labour Party last year.
Councillor Tam's statement says that she left Labour "following months of attacks, including attempted expulsion, from within the Labour party in Lewisham and at London regional level over her support for justice for Palestinians."
She becomes the first Green on Lewisham council since 2018, when Labour took all 54 seats giving them full control. Since Councillor Tam left the Labour Party last year, she has been the sole opposition.
Tam said: "In the face of increasing barbarism, we must articulate a politics of care and love in developing concrete alternatives.
"We need to respond humanely to community divisions, exploitation and migration; build alternatives to austerity politics and neoliberal spending; take lasting action to halt the climate emergency and ongoing wars; and build back genuine democracy.
Councillor Tam works in migrant rights, justice and advocacy, and is a community worker, campaigner, union representative and governor of Twin Oaks primary school.
