BME MPs:

In the furore and uncertainty that followed the General Election result on May 5th one very important, even historic fact was sorely overlooked.

Parliament had nearly doubled the number of Black and minority ethnic MPs.

Not only was it the largest intake of new BME MPs ever - 13 -  but their numbers swelled from 14 to 27 literally overnight.

Today, with the support of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) we celebrate their success.

We applaud their individual and often dramatic journeys: sons and daughters of immigrants; often born into poverty; some never expected to amount to much; and yet they are now sitting on Her Majesty’s green benches making  laws that govern our land.

In their success we reflect our communitie’s success too: achieving against the odds, demanding to make a contribution to better our society.

We know we still have much to do in terms of political representation and policies that tackle persistent race inequalities, but today we will gather to celebrate our BME MPs sucess, with the unshakable belief that many more of our talented individuals will follow in their footsteps.

Simon Woolley