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TERRY DIGNAN: It's a big night at London's
Hilton Hotel. More than six hundred guests are arriving for a dinner to
celebrate the achievements of Britain's ethnic minorities. Awards are to
be presented to those who've had an outstanding year in their chosen career
or profession. It's further evidence that many blacks and Asians are breaking
the glass ceiling. But in politics it's a different story.
If tonight's dinner had
been to celebrate the success of Britain's ethnic minorities in politics,
the organisers might have chosen a much smaller venue. For while there
are many black and Asian success stories in the arts, entertainment, business,
the professions, the public sector, in politics, it seems, the barriers
have still to come down. The Labour Party argues, in truth, that it's record
is much superior to that of the other main parties. Yet the fact remains
that many black and Asian members of the Labour Party feel deeply let down.
Tonight's hosts, the
Asian Marketing Group, have invited big name employers who've promised
ethnic minorities equal treatment. If party leaders followed this policy,
there'd be forty non-white Members of Parliament. In fact, there are less
than a dozen and although they represent Labour, the party's record receives
faint praise.
DIANE ABBOTT: We have a much better record
than the other parties, but that's nothing to boast about. I was elected
thirteen years ago. Progress since then has been pitifully slow.
TREVOR PHILLIPS: There is a tendency to
say, 'Well, if we wait a bit longer, if people work a bit harder, it will
happen". But the truth of the matter is for two generations, black and
Asian people have been coming forward but not being selected.
VALERIE VAZ I think we should change a
system if it isn't working, and we know it isn't working now so we have
to look at different ways.
DIGNAN: Our society is multiracial
but you wouldn't think so from looking at our three main parties. In the
House of Commons, out of six hundred and fifty-nine MPs only nine - all
Labour - are from ethnic minority communities. In Scotland's new parliament
not one of its a hundred and twenty-nine members are black or Asian. There
are none in the sixty-member Welsh assembly. There are only two, both Labour,
in the twenty-five strong Greater London Assembly. In the European Parliament
there are only four - two Labour and two Conservative - among the eighty-four
members from England, Scotland and Wales. So out of nearly a thousand seats,
only fifteen are held by ethnic minority representatives. Of these thirteen
are Labour and two Conservative. The Liberal Democrats have none.
Valerie Vaz has been trying
for fourteen years to become a Labour MP. Persuading members of local constituency
parties to select her for a winnable seat has so far proved impossible.
In her attempts to get to Westminster she's often competing against white
candidates who already wield considerable local influence. Few blacks and
Asians have this kind of clout.
VAZ: You may come across,
what's known as the favoured son, and they will have links with the council,
and there may be sort of like deals done, which will favour them, and people
will feel they owe them certain things to support them, rather than support
someone from the outside.
DIGNAN: Trevor Phillips has at
least got elected to one of the new devolved bodies, the Greater London
Assembly, which is currently holding a black history exhibition. He says
constituency activists - who are mainly white - look for a Parliamentary
candidate who has a record of campaigning for the party. They ignore the
kind of campaigning experience gained by blacks and Asians.
PHILLIPS: For black and Asian people
who've been active in campaigns which have nothing to do with party politics,
but may be immigration or something like that, they don't quite have the
credentials that are recognised by the Labour Party at the moment. Now
that's a problem, and it's our problem.
DIGNAN: In Tower Hamlets a board
is elected to decide how a local estate should be regenerated. This part
of London's inner city has a large ethnic minority presence in the local
Labour Party. They wanted a black or Asian candidate at the last election.
They chose Oona King who says she would have had little chance in a constituency
party dominated by whites.
OONA KING: Overwhelmingly when
there are black candidates there, they will vote for the white candidate
again and again and again. That's because overwhelmingly you know, on
the whole, the majority of Labour party members in most of the seats are
white and often you vote with your friends or who you're familiar with.
It doesn't mean you're racist. But it does mean that there can be institutional
racism, that prevents one group from getting elected.
DIGNAN: All but one of Britain's
non-white MPs won their seats in multiracial areas like this one. Is the
refusal of white members of the Labour Party to select black candidates
in other areas more than just institutional racism?
SHAMIT SAAGAR: I think what is taking place
in the Labour Party like other parties, is a form of imputed racism. That
is to say, selectors who are mainly white, are taking the view that whilst
they are not racist, and do not discriminate against black and Asian candidates,
their fear is - entirely unfounded by the way - that voters will discriminate
on that basis, and for those reasons, selectors play safe and shy away
from adopting black and Asian candidates, particularly in marginal seats.
VAZ: Sometimes it is used
as a factor. There are - I mean it's like everything. When you look at
a candidate, you look at what their characteristics are and, and it has
been used as a factor.
DIGNAN: Race has been used as an
argument against selecting you?
VAZ: It has been mentioned
yes.
DIGNAN: It's hardly surprising
that ambitious black and Asian members of the Labour Party should gravitate
to inner city seats like this one. Understandably they feel they've a better
chance of being selected for these constituencies. Some fear though this
could lead to the ghettoisation of British politics with white MPs representing
mainly white areas and black and Asian MPs representing mainly ethnic minority
areas.
PHILLIPS: I think people have got
to be realistic. First of all, seats like Tottenham, say, want a black
MP. But you know, white people in Tottenham felt like they wanted a black
MP. They had a good experience with Bernie Grant, and I think they'll have
an excellent one with David Lammy. Secondly, if someone from an ethnic
minority background goes for a seat like Southall or Perry Barr, or indeed
Tottenham, there is no worry in anybody's mind that what they're going
to do is lose votes because of their colour.
DR SAAGAR: One has fostered a mentality
that black and Asian candidates are only suitable, are only plausible and
only legitimate in such inner city areas containing large numbers of minority
voters. Where does that then leave the aspiring black or Asian candidate
who seeks to represent constituencies that are predominantly white in terms
of their social make-up? If we don't tackle this question, if the Labour
Party doesn't address it, ultimately we are in a sense going down the road
of assuming that same ethnicity candidates are by definition a good thing.
That whites will be represented by whites and non whites by non whites.
And there can be very few people in modern multi cultural Britain, who'd
actually think that's a desirable end in itself.
DIGNAN: As the electorate becomes
ethnically more diverse, an iron law of politics becomes clearer. Britain's
ethnic minorities vote overwhelmingly Labour. In 1979 eighty-six per cent
supported the party, eight per cent the Conservatives and six per cent
the Liberal Democrats and others. Nearly twenty years later, according
to research, little had changed with eighty-five per cent backing Labour,
eleven per cent the Conservatives and four per cent the Liberal Democrats
and others. Increasingly, there are demands on Labour to repay this loyalty
by selecting more ethnic minority candidates for winnable seats.
DR SAAGAR: On the one hand the Labour party
has profited enormously in the course of a quarter century, from effectively
owning the lion share of the ethnic minority vote. On the other hand,
some in the black and Asian community argue what precisely has been the
dividend, the pay off, in response to that close relationship between minority
voters and the Labour party.
DIGNAN: The employers who attended
last Tuesday's dinner say they want more job applicants from ethnic minority
communities. Labour says it wants the same. Yet when they do put their
names forward, many fail to get selected because, it's argued, not enough
training is given to them on how to perform effectively when they are called
for interview by party officials.
PHILLIPS: What we know from business
and from other organisations is that when you go through that rather rigorous,
that demanding selection procedure you do have to be properly prepared
for it. You do have to understand the culture of that kind of selection.
And I think that to some extent, people who come up from the black and
ethnic minority communities, often aren't quite as prepared as other kind
of candidates are.
KING: Well training and
advice is always very helpful, but it's not going to get you the votes
if people have got a favoured candidate who has been around for twenty
odd years.
VAZ: We've sort of been
out-trained really. We've done as much training as we possibly can and
we're there ready as good candidates and good MP material. So I think
for some people they feel that we're there. We don't need any more training.
DIGNAN: London like other cities
has a growing ethnic minority population but few ethnic minority MPs. One
answer would be to set targets for selecting black and Asian candidates.
Yet there's disagreement over this suggestion, too.
PHILLIPS: For example, in London,
if we were to reflect the population of London, or the population that
votes labour, we would find that something like forty, forty-five per cent
of labour MPs should be black or Asian or Chinese. And that would mean,
twenty to twenty five. The point of setting a target is that party members
know that's where we're going. And when they come to cast their votes,
they will have in the back of their mind, that we've got to reach this
target.
KING: You can have as many
targets as you want. If you don't have a system that is capable of delivering
that, it really doesn't mean anything. It's just hot air. So, although
I would say yes, it's important that people know what we're aiming for,
common sense should tell you that. You know I don't think it will make
that much difference.
DIGNAN: At the offices of Operation
Black Vote there's growing frustration at what is seen as Labour's timidity.
Campaigners here are trying to persuade all the parties to select more
ethnic minority candidates for winnable seats. They believe Labour could
take the lead by discriminating, for a limited period only, in favour of
blacks.
WOOLLEY: We shouldn't be afraid
to discuss a time-limited positive discrimination. I've been to America
and I've seen black judges, black mayors, black congressmen, playing a
role at the highest level. Why? because the political will was there, and
they used positive discrimination to ensure that their democracy reflected
the people that it served. So let's be bold and let's be brave.
DIGNAN: Black activists at Labour
conferences in the eighties argued for positive discrimination with a demand
for black-only shortlists to select candidates.
ABBOTT: All-white parties in multiracial
constituencies - that's apartheid.
DIGNAN: The party rejected the
idea yet later imposed all women shortlists.
ABBOTT: I think the party has to
bite the bullet and do what we were demanding fourteen, fifteen years ago
and go for all black shortlists. It is all women shortlists that improved
sharply the numbers of women, and you're gonna need that to put up the
numbers of black and Asian candidates. You have to remember that New Labour
inherited a policy for women's shortlists, as kind of one of the left wing
policies of the eighties which people like me were successful in pushing.
When we got knocked back by the industrial tribunal, which deemed the shortlists
illegal, leadership did nothing about it. Now belatedly, they're talking
about changing the law to make all women shortlists legal and that opens
the door for all black shortlists as well.
KING: I think the party
has to consider black only short-lists. My gut instinct is that I don't
like them. My gut instinct also is that one thing I dislike even more,
is the fact that we don't have a representative democracy. That's very
important to me. You know my gut instinct is I don't like women only short
lists. But, they are the best and the only mechanism we've had to right
a very long wrong that's been going on for a thousand-odd years. So, if
you're actually going to try and change the system, then you do have to
take some very tough measures.
DIGNAN: Some fear the party leadership
would only pick seats with large ethnic minority populations for all-black
shortlists. There'd then be less pressure to select non-white candidates
for other seats.
PHILLIPS: I'm really against the
idea of colour-coding constituencies because that essentially means that
we are shut out of ninety-five per cent of the possibilities. You would
not get the situation for example that you've got in Gloucester where we
have Parmagit Singh Gunder an Asian candidate, who's won you know, on his
own merits in a seat which is, has a very small proportion of ethnic minorities.
ABBOTT: All black shortlists would
ensure black and Asian MPs everywhere not just in ghetto areas. And just
as with all women shortlists, the women were just as good and just as able
as the men, the black and Asian MPs will be just as good and able as anybody.
DIGNAN: It's unlikely there'd be
time to impose all-black shortlists before these voters next go to the
polls. So the party is facing demands to impose minority candidates in
seats where the sitting Labour MP decides to stand down just as the election
is called.
VAZ: There has been a precedent
in the past when you come near an election, for people with a track record
to be put in to seats, and, and I don't see any problem with that. And
so I think that would be a good way of showing that the party wants more
ethnic minority candidates in parliament, by saying, look, we'll put you
through a by-election panel because you have a track record, and then put
you in to seats.
DIGNAN: After winning the last
election Tony Blair admitted there were too few black and Asian MPs in
Parliament.
TONY BLAIR: We can't be a beacon to the
world unless the talents of all the people shine through. Not one black
High Court judge. Not one black Chief Constable or Permanent Secretary.
Not one black army officer above the rank of Colonel. Not one Asian either.
Not a record of pride for the British Establishment and not a record of
pride for a British Parliament that there are so few black and Asian MPs.
DIGNAN: Three years on, and there's
frustration that there's been little in the way of action to match the
rhetoric.
WOOLLEY: If he passionately believes
in it, then he has to ensure, that his troops deliver on the representation
front, they haven't and the responsibility lies with him.
KING: I want Number Ten
to look at these issues. I want the Labour Party to set up a commission,
to look at these issues. Tony Blair has said that he will be involved,
that Number Ten will be involved. We need to look at this from the very
top of the party, because we are committed to greater representation for
all groups but we haven't been able to get past the system, which trips
you up every time.
VAZ: The numbers show that
we're not coming through in this way, so there's got to be another way,
they've got to look at different ways. And they have over the years tried
to make it much more equal and much more fairer and I think they're going
to have to look at it again.
DIGNAN: The prizes in our society
are no longer monopolised by the majority. Politics, though, remains hard
to break into. Labour has a better record than the others. Yet many believe
it represents a poor return on the loyalty shown to the party by Britain's
ethnic minorities.
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