MP Pat McFadden is a very prominent figure in the Wolverhampton community, not only as an MP, but as an advocator of racial equality within society. He very proudly takes part in the Sikh festival of Vaisakhi and encourages many others to do so as well. “Vaisakhi is a major part of the cultural calender in Wolverhampton. We've got a very big Sikh, broader Punjabi community in Wolverhampton and Vaisakhi is celebrated throughout the city.” He goes on to say, “I have hosted the parliamentary celebrations of Vaisakhi, which over the years have been attended by all three party leaders. Both in the constituency and in the parliament have always been pleased to take part in Vaisakhi celebrations.”
MP McFadden commemorates the Sikh community in Wolverhampton and their achievements in the UK. “I think the Sikh community is slightly successful. I think it is a great story of a community that have come here over the decades, have worked very hard, has good values, both of enterprise but of community and putting something back. Sikh community in my constituency values education strongly, something very close to my own heart too. I think, broadly speak, it is a successful community.”
However, he does not deny the lack of ethnic minorities in politics, especially the lack of Sikh representatives and role models. “In politics, I would like to see more Sikh representation. The truth is we had a number of Sikh MPs and members of the House of Lords and over the last 5-6 years, a number of them have died. So through no one's specific fault, we've gone backwards in terms of Sikh representation. We have one Sikh MP in the House of Commons, my parliamentary neighbour, Paul Uppal. We've got one Sikh MEP, who's a Labour MEP, Neena Gill, who's also from this region, from the West Midlands. But I would like to see us having more than one Sikh MP and more than one Sikh MEP, in terms of representation.”
MP Pat McFadden does not feel that the budget will be beneficial for many in the coming future. “I don't think this budget is going to make a huge amount of difference to the election debate. I think as it was, it will still be a debate about the effect of economy recovery and who's getting the benefit of recovery. And many people, whatever we read about the GDP numbers are not feeling recovery in their pockets and in their household budgets and feel worse off than they did five years ago.”
In order to make a substantial change, MP McFadden believes that the youth of the country ought to make full use of their votes; their opinions matter and their voice should be heard. “I would like to see more young people voting. The older you are the more likely it is for you to vote. I think it's a shame that quite a lot of young people don't use their votes, so for young readers of Asian Voice in particular and hope that they would use their vote because in election, there's a big democratic choice. It is important to make your voice heard so I'm hoping for much participation in the election as possible.”
MP Pat McFadden also been concerned regarding the government's plans to slash many foreign languages from the A level qualification; languages such as Punjabi, Gujarati, Polish among many others. MP McFadden stated, “I believe the Government’s plans to axe these qualifications are a huge mistake. Many of my constituents speak Punjabi and Gujarati and these languages are important to parts of the community. Furthermore, as Britain’s population becomes more diverse it is economically important to make the most of our global links. Axing language qualifications is short sighted for a major trading economy like ours. I believe it is vital to keep open the option to take these qualifications right up to A level standard.”
