Ed Miliband: Race equality not on the agenda?

It’s very difficult to see a strong, dignified Black woman cry. But as I arrived at Piccadilly station in Manchester ready to head home after my attendance at the Labour party conference, I bumped into my friend- I won’t mention her name - she was also heading home.

I enquired "What did you think of the Labour Leader’s speech?". she said:

Simon, don’t get me started. The guy - Miliband - spoke for over an hour, he mentioned the plight of the young, the old, the poor, the LBGT –Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay and transgender community – and women. Why did he not mention in his big vision, plans to tackle race inequality? Why are we constantly being ignored?"

And with that her head bowed, she could no longer hold back her emotions. She sat there head lowered tears rolling down her face, just saying, “We deserve better, Simon”.

She’s right, of course. We do deserve better from a leader, and from a party for which the majority of BME voters vote. This was the last party conference speech until the next election. Why then wasn’t there a line that even acknowledged diversity and call to tackle persistent race discrimination? If Ed Miliband cannot inspire the very Black activists who should in turn inspire a lost generation of voters, wining the next General Election will be a tall order.

My own disappointment at the party conference and the Labour Party is summed by an official to a Black MP, when he remarked:

With so few Black people here at conference it’s easy to find my MP amongst the thousands of delegates here."

These last few days have been a wake-up call for me and should be for us: Unless we stand up in large numbers we’ll be ignored. We've got to make our presence felt. The PR people will always put us in the picture, because that’s the easy part, but is political pressure which ensures we're part of the narrative of any party’s vision.

We must lead the change we want to see from our democratic parties and institutions.

Simon Woolley