Last week I attended the excellent hustings organised by Patchwork with Operation Black Vote. The event brought together a 200-strong young BAME audience to debate with the Labour Leadership candidates. The event was one of the best debates about race and politics I have attended in the last few years.
We have seen a lot of recent debate about the BAME vote but much less about BAME equality. Politics has to be about reality, not just about rhetoric. Last year the FTSE 100 lost nearly 40 of its 480 non-white leaders at board level – and the number of BAME CEOs has fallen from six to four. Ethnic minorities are more likely to be unemployed, be on the national minimum wage and more likely to be in prison. It is disappointing that the Government removed the BAME targets for new public appointees and that we have seen a drop in representation on public boards.
We need a stronger and more robust response to race inequality, led from the top. One reason I am convinced that Yvette Cooper is the right choice for Labour Leader has been her history on the issue of equality and also her BAME manifesto announced last month. She has set a very radical goal of doubling the number of Labour BAME MPs to ensure representation of all communities in our politics. Parliament overall in 2015 has seen an increase in BAME representation but only to 6.6% - Labour has 23 BAME MPs compared to the Tories’ 10 MPs.
But this won’t happen by itself. I’m pleased that Yvette has said she will personally oversee a task force to boost support for BAME candidates and activists – with a development programme and bursary schemes. In addition the police, armed forces and civil service need to look more like the whole of Britain. Her plans for a legal requirement on police forces to increase diversity and a Race Equality Minister are bold and will make a huge difference on the ground.
I have worked with Yvette as her Parliamentary Private Secretary and now as a Shadow Home Office Minister. I have seen her show the blend of tough leadership, strong sense of purpose and compassion driven from firm Labour values in her work as Shadow Home Secretary. She also has experience of Government in driving forward the Minimum Wage, Sure Start Centres and equality measures. She understands the votes we lost and is the most credible candidate for Prime Minister. As Labour goes into the final few weeks of the Leadership election campaign, the question will increasingly focus on the candidate who has the most likelihood of winning in 2020, and therefore of having the chance to make a change.
Seema Malhotra is the Labour and Cooperative Member of Parliament for Feltham and Heston and the Shadow Minister for Preventing Violence Against Women and Girls.
