A view from inside Labour Party Conference

The issue of voter registration and the potential disenfrachisement of our communities was a key issue at the annual BAME Labour Fringe Meeting

At yesterday's Labour Party Conference, Party Leader Ed Miliband, announced at a Q&A session that Labour would be campaigning against the government's proposals to change the way in which individuals register to vote. This change in voter registration has the potential to remove up to 10 million voters, many of them from BME backgrounds.

Kamaljeet Jandu, Chair of BAME Labour, who was speaking at the BAME Fringe Meeting said that this was a key issue ahead of the London Mayoral elections next year. The meeting was well attended by BAME MPs, party members and members of the public whom Labour had opened conference up to for one day. Keith Vaz MP said that it was an entirely new ball game and reflected on the progress that BME communities had made since last year.

He said, "there are a record number of BAME individuals in the Shadow cabinet, all of whom are there because they have talent ". Streatham MP, Chuka Ummuna said that there was still a need for the Labour Party to reflect the population it seeks to serve. He went on to say that the debate had rightly been about representation, but policy and the impact that the government cuts is having on BME communities needs to be highlighted. This sentiment was echoed by Fiona Mactaggart, Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities, who said that the Party had done a good job of highlighting the impact of the cuts in women, but not in relation to its impact on different ethnicities.

The Q and A session focused primarily on the difficulties in the route to power which aspiring BME politicians encounter, for example in relation to seat selection. Unfortunately this left little time to discuss some key issues such as debating policy and the rise in right wing extremism.

Eskil Pederson, from Labour's sister party in Norway AUF, spoke about the horrific events in July and stressed that there was need to pay more attention to the issues and that groups such as the EDL or NDL cannot be accepted in a multicultural society such as ours.

Jyoti Bhojani

Picture: Labour Leader Ed Miliband