It’s official 2017 Election: The Black vote won it!

Whilst there is no doubt that there has been an increase in the youth vote and a greater sense of, 'we demand to be listened to',  political analytical experts have now concluded that the surprise element to  these elections was not necessarily the youth vote, but rather the vote of the Black and minority ethnic electorate- The Black Vote.

Analysing the data Bristol University academic Paula Surridge found that diversity, not young people, was more important in driving higher turnout in constituencies.

She investigated whether there was a correlation between the number of young people in an area and turnout, and found a “very weak” correlation between the number of 18 to 24 year olds and turnout. She also saw a slightly stronger correlation between turnout and the number of 18 to 29 year olds.

But when age was measured against an area’s diversity, the correlation between age and turnout disappeared.

Ethnically diverse areas tend to have younger populations but diversity was the more important factor in driving turnout, Surridge concluded.

My reading of that is it’s more about the diversity of the area than about young people per se,”

As Lee Jasper said in his post election article, ‘Britain has changed, and you changed it’, that after two decades of political campaigning, the sleeping giant - The Black Vote - has awoken and roared.

The challenge for all of us now will be to keep this momentum going. Our collective Race Equality Manifesto gives us a focus and platform for policy demands. Equally having a record number of BME MP’s also helps us ensure we have a louder voice in crucial political debates.

Simon Woolley