A GROUP of passionate campaigners took to Bournemouth Square to show ‘solidarity’ for their co-workers in their ‘One Day Without Us’ campaign.

One Day Without Us is a day of ‘national action’ that celebrates migrant workers, and migration in the UK. The gathering in the town centre saw many local people show their support for the 2.37 million migrant workers across the country.

Campaigner and former Liberal Democrat candidate for Throop & Muscliff Muriel Turner said: "We are here to celebrate our EU and international colleagues - we need to stand together.

"Also, we talk a lot about workers, but we never talk about the house husbands and the housewives who are at home who support their working spouse, or spend time raising the British children of EU workers who are the future."

The One Day Without Us campaign aims to show the crucial role migrant workers have within our everyday lives, from members of the community, to being key figures within hospitals.

Grandmother Jan Randall said: "My granddaughter is only 11 months old, but she has spent ten months of her life in three different hospitals, and I couldn’t imagine where she would be without the consultants, doctors and nurses from within the EU who have helped treat her."

Although the One Day Without Us campaign is not anti-Brexit, it does recognise the impact it could have on migration.

The campaign follows concerns about social cohesion since Brexit, including the commonly alleged rise in hate crime, reports of which nearly doubled in the immediate aftermath of the 2016 referendum.

Austrian therapist Brigitte Scott-Florek said: "There has been a rise in xenophobia since Brexit. After the referendum, I found myself in my little village almost afraid to reveal I was foreign."

A statement released by the organisers said: "The UK is and always has been a society of migration, and this reality should be welcomed and embraced.

"Migrants share the same hopes, dreams, challenges and aspirations as the majority of the British population, and they constitute valued and valuable members of our communities across the country."