Levelling the Political Playing Field for Black and Minority Ethnic Communities

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Sat 2nd Apr 2005

Much has been said by political parties around inclusion and the Black community over the last year and as we move into the last stages of the General Election. However, much of that has been tainted by race and immigration and the use of perverse posters asking whether 'you are thinking what we are thinking.'

After nearly six decades of being in this country the Black community is still being used as a political pawn during electioneering and this shows that the deep malaise of xenophobia is still alive and well.

The Liberal Democrats have over the last four years seen a significant rise in their membership from the Black community. The rises were so large that when you compare the new membership figures for 2003 / 04 against those for 2002 / 03, there was a 15% rise in the numbers of new members from this group. Figures to date show an even bigger rise and in some local Liberal Democrat associations more than 50% of the membership is made up of Black members.

This all shows that we are moving in the right direction. Some of the reasons for this are because of the stance that we took on Iraq. We also oppose ID cards which may have a very heavy impact on the Black community and we were actively against the incarceration of individuals within Belmarsh and Guantanamo Bay where there did not even have access to legal advice or to the charges listed against them. We have opposed tuition fees, opposed the demonising of the value that immigrants bring to the UK, opposed quotas for asylum seekers wanting to stay in the UK and opposed Bush and Blair and the flouting of international law that took place vis-à-vis Iraq. In place of this, we have proposed a new Equality Act to give equal rights for people of all faiths, proposed a ban on using any religion to incite racial hatred, proposed realistic numbers of foreigner work permits based on our economic needs and we have also proposed that decisions on the right to asylum should be taken independently of politicians. Additionally, we believe in a two state solution; security for Israel, justice and a state for Palestinians and we support the United Nations so that we never again fight an illegal and unjust war.

The Liberal Democrats are the only Party to have a group within the main Party structure that lobbies on issues around the Black community and also has the right to influence policy making whilst having access to key individuals in the Party at the highest level. The Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats have gone from strength to strength and have also recently produced a mini-manifesto for the Black community. EMLD has also produced a 10 point campaigning card targeted towards it.

The Liberal Democrats are the only party to produce a mini-manifesto which attempts to take into account the concerns of the Black community. They are also the only party to set up a task force to assist Black candidates and EMLD also provides mentoring, support and advice and assistance to candidates when they decide that they would like to get involved at a local authority or Parliamentary level. (EMLD also launched the Turkish Speaking Forum about 3 months ago for Turkish Speaking groups in London.)

More recently, our main electoral successes have been in areas where there is a high concentration of people from the Black community including Brent East and Leicester South- we also came very close to winning Birmingham Hodge Hill. The old mantra of the Black community voting for Labour no longer has any credence. There is everything to play for and all political parties must understand that the 'Black Vote' is a powerful one and one which is having a real impact on our political system.

Your time and our time is here. Together we may move forward in what we believe in; freedom, fairness and trust.

(Note: The use of the term Black community is within the political context and includes the Asian, African Caribbean, African, Chinese and other communities)