The Leader of Croydon Council will submit a motion offering the freedom of the borough to world-famous Rapper Stormzy after the world-famous artist announced plans to donate £10 million to the Black Lives Matter movement in the UK.

Stormzy is an outspoken advocate of racial justice causes including Black Lives Matter and grew up in South Norwood.

He previously promised to fund scholarships for a number of black students to attend Cambridge University each year, causing a reported uptick in admission of black students there since.

On Thursday (June 11), amid the latest rising of protests supporting the movement after the killing of African American man George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis, it was reported that Stormzy had pledged £10 million over ten years to "Organisations, charities and movements that are committed to fighting racial inequality, justice reform and black empowerment within the UK."

According to the Sunday Times 'Young Rich List', Stormzy is worth around £20 million, meaning the donation pledge equates to half his total wealth. 

Soon after news of the large donation commitment spread online, the Labour Leader of Croydon Council Tony Newman said he would submit a motion at Croydon Council to offer the grime artist the "freedom of the borough":

In a short statement posted to Twitter, the council leader said:

"This is action and not just words, when we meet again as a Council, we will be proposing the Freedom of the Borough for Stormzy, one of @yourcroydon 's finest #BlackLivesMatterUK."

Freedom of the Borough is considered the highest honour a council can award an individual or group in recognition of their contributions.

The title dates back centuries, when the Royal Charter Boroughs were almost, if not entirely, self governing with little or no formal control over the authority.

Stormzy and his company #Merky posted a statement on announcing the start of his "lifelong commitment" to racial justice causes in the UK, reproduced in full here:

"The uncomfortable truth that our country continuously fails to recognise and admit is that black people in the UK have been at a constant disadvantage in every aspect of life – simply due to the colour of our skin. I’m lucky enough to be in the position I’m in and I’ve heard people often dismiss the idea of racism existing in Britain by saying, ‘If the country’s so racist how have you become a success?!’ And I reject that with this: I am not the UK’s shining example of what supposedly happens when a black person works hard. There are millions of us. We are not far and few. We have to fight against the odds of a racist system stacked against us and designed for us to fail from before we are even born. Black people have been playing on an uneven field for far too long and this pledge is a continuation in the fight to finally try and even it."