Lib Dems and Race Equality: What’s going on?

It wasn’t so many years ago when it seemed that the Liberal Democrats were the loudest cheerleaders when it came to tackling race equality. Not so anymore. Reports in the Guardian and Lib Dem websites have highlighted the fact that an internal report commissioned by the Leader Nick Clegg has been rejected, leaving many in the party feeling their efforts and views are just not wanted.

This is a great shame on many levels. Just over a year ago, Nick Clegg as Deputy Prime Minister stated:

We must tackle racism with an iron fist’

He went on to say that:

Although we have made progress, people from ethnic minorities still face social and economic barriers'

Many felt at the time this would mean a sea change both in Lib Dem party politics but also national policy too. And yet the party’s own report, written by the very respected Baroness Meral Ecce has been kicked into touch, but also there are some very real policy challenges around race that many expected the Lib Dem side of the coalition to be fighting hard.

Two areas, in particular, stand out: The massive ‘hollowing out’ of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, which has had its budget slashed from 70 million to 17million. Equally, many are desperate worried that those legislative gains that came out of the Stephen Lawrence Public Inquiry such as the Public sector Equality Duty are about to be dumped. If this occurs, public institutions will no longer have to consider the effects of their policies, even if they disproportionately affect Black children, for example. Testing policy by equality standards helps ensure we have good and effective governance throughout all our public bodies.

Some are now asking, ‘ How did the Lib Dem’s loose sight of this? Some cynics question whether or not the Lib Dem’s ever really cared.

I believe that these next few weeks and months will be a real test to the party on where they stand in regards the issue of race equality. Will they be active or passive? Brave or by-standers. I hope they once again find their spirit and commitment to effectively confront racism.

Simon Woolley