Baroness Warsi: Black communities 'are key to our future'

In a ground breaking speech, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi stated:

Discrimination, intolerance, prejudice and bigotry - we need to stamp these out if we want to be better intergrated….Fighting bigotry and intolerance is key to enable people to intergrate, to participate and to reach their full potential.

In her first major speech since the Government reshuffle, Warsi made it clear that tackling these problems has wider implications than just a moral imperative:

‘Britain’s migrant communities are key to our future. Who better to sell Britain to the world than our diverse communities… Who better to rebalance our economy and accelerate recovery? ‘

For many who attended, it was very encouraging that a senior BME politician in Government was sounding so forceful with a narrative that puts BME communities central to the nations success.

On a political note, Warsi was also unequivocal about where her own party needs to be to win a second term:

We’ve got to better engage with BME communities. The number one driver for not voting Conservative is not being white. It’s time for us to reject that baggage.

OBV’s Simon Woolley stated, by way of reflection to the speech that:

Warsi’s narrative was extremely important to BME communities and the Conservative Party: To BME communities she valued our contribution, acknowledging the discriminatory barriers encouraged all to be part of the political change; to her own party she argued that the parties survival could depend upon how well it can break down barriers and gain more minority support.

Both Woolley and Warsi agreed that both the Government and communities needed to better work together in a bid to unlock the talent that would benefit the whole of society.

OBV Reporter