Green Party Launches BAME Manifesto

The Green Party has introduced its BAME manifesto that will support and value BAME Londoners

London is a wonderful, vibrant and diverse city, which should provide everyone with an equal opportunity to find work, gain an education and build a home. Ethnicity, race or faith should not predetermine poorer outcomes in life, yet currently in London it all too often does,”

those were just some of the wise words Green candidate for Mayor of London, Sian Berry said.

Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic make up more than 40 percent of London. Of that 40 percent, just 12 percent of candidates come from minority ethnic backgrounds. Realizing this, on April 23rd the Green Party in London launched a manifesto highlighting policies that would help to make sure no-one in London is disadvantages by their ethnic background.

Policies the Greens promises are support for BAME small businesses and reviews of the controversial stop and search and Prevent policies. The party will introduce affirmative action to increase the representative nature of the police.

In addition, the manifesto speaks of better progress in London would be achieved through a system of recruitment into a pool of quality applicants from which officer posts are assigned more quickly if they will increase diversity, while ensuring every successful applicant is given a job eventually. This is similar to a system used to make Northern Ireland's police better represent the different religious denominations in their population.

Other key policies in the manifesto include:

• Making the initial stages of recruitment to all City Hall and contractor jobs anonymous to avoid race and gender bias.
• Making it a specific commitment of the new public Bank for London to support entrepreneurs and businesses from diverse backgrounds.
• Working to preserve and support BAME run businesses which are currently losing out from redevelopments and rent increases. We will work to ensure that the London plan is used to ensure established businesses are not demolished, uprooted or removed through gentrification and redevelopment.
• Reviewing implementation of the Prevent strategy and its implications for tackling extremism as well as preserving good community relations. We would pursue community-led collaborative approaches to tackling all forms of extremism and not allow the disproportionate targeting of the Muslim community as evidenced by Prevent in its current form.
• Reviewing and reforming stop and search policies. Current policy is resulting in certain groups being disproportionately singled out by police. We would introduce a lifetime ban on officers performing stop and search if they misuse the power even once, a practice currently used by Northampton police. We would also introduce a new independent body to oversee the use of stop and search in London.

Benali Hamdache, Londonwide Assembly candidate said:

Greens elected to City Hall would make the initial stages of recruitment to all City Hall and contractor jobs anonymous to avoid race and gender bias. Concealing applicant names from the shortlisting process will help address some of the biases that unfairly disadvantage many ethnic minority applicants from advancing to the interview stage."

We would also work to preserve and support BAME-run businesses which are currently losing out from redevelopments and rent increases. The businesses, clubs and cultural life that make London a special place are currently being squeezed out by high rents and redevelopment. The Mayor's London Plan should ensure that established businesses are not demolished, uprooted or removed through gentrification and redevelopment."

Click here to download the BAME manifesto.

Briana Bell