Labour ‘will tackle race equality’

Shadow justice secretary says his party will legislate to enforce a fairer society

WITH LESS than one year to go to the general election, the Labour Party has unveiled some of the measures it hopes will win back sceptical black voters.

At a special event, hosted by Operation Black Vote (OBV) last Thursday (May 15), Shadow Justice Secretary Sadiq Khan outlined his party’s plan to tackle race inequality, and urged people to respond to a consultation that will help to form the strategy.

AMONG THE KEY PROPOSALS ARE:

• affirmative action in order to get more black officers in senior positions
• a legal requirement for all police forces to have active recruitment policies to increase diversity
• an action plan on judicial reform
• a statutory reform of ‘stop and search’
• an 18 per cent target of black and ethnic minority candidates and 24 per cent working class for the civil service’s fast track scheme
• legislation to improve the diversity of corporate boards
• a race equality strategy for each Whitehall department

It is a crucial time for the Labour party which wants to win an outright majority in 2015. Current opinion polls, however, show that as the economy improves, so does the support for the Conservatives.

SEATS

This time around, the keys to Number 10 rests in the hands of Britain’s growing black communities, who have the power to decide the outcome of 168 parliamentary seats.

Khan, London’s first Muslim MP as well as the first Asian man to sit in the Cabinet, said:

We can no longer be treated as a single homogeneous group...but there is still one thing that unites all ethnic minority communities in this country and that is that we will all experience the effects of racial inequality in our daily lives.

From the very highest achievers who get a great education, succeed in their careers but then find themselves hitting the glass ceiling; locked out of the board room or the judiciary or political office, to those at the other end who face the traps of intergenerational poverty: high unemployment and low educational achievement.”

He added:

Race equality is an issue that ignores class or wealth or status. It affects us all.”

The Tooting MP highlighted that black and Asian Britons were more likely to be unemployed, earned less than their white counterparts and lived shorter lives because of inequalities in the health system.

Khan blamed race inequality for widening the disparity of the fortunes of those at the top and bottom of the society, which ultimately impacts Britain’s own economy and growth.

It limits growth and destroys potential,”

he told the audience.

The high levels of unemployment among black and Asian youngsters is a terrible waste of human talent and energy.

GROWTH

They should be creating growth and building business to help our economy. But instead of creating growth, they are instead trapped in a life of welfare and benefits, costing the state money rather than contributing to our economy.”

While African and Caribbean communities have traditionally backed the Labour party, many feel that their votes have been taken for granted, as reported by The Voice.

Strengthening this argument is the fact that despite its strong record on race legislation, the Labour party itself has not been as diverse as it should be, with activists often complaining of being overlooked in the selection for key seats even though they put in hours of hard work.

To this Khan responded:

In London, we have 13 target seats. Seventy per cent of them are women and 40 per cent are BME…That’s not good enough so we have set up the Future Cabinets programme for people who want to become MPs or councillors. It’s a weekend of training on how to write speeches and networking. We want to change parliament so it looks like the community it serves.”

Simon Woolley, director of OBV, called the proposals ‘bold’, but said they could be stronger. He said:

What stands out for me is that today Sadiq [Khan] has promised – and we will hold him to this promise – that if a Labour party is to form a government, every single department in Whitehall will have to adopt a race equality strategy to deliver throughout our society. That, to me, is a good ask from us and it’s a good delivery from Sadiq and his party.”

http://www.voice-online.co.uk

 Elizabeth Pears, The Voice Newspaper