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Fears over backtrack on pledges
What are Labour offering the black community?
Black MPs fear Sir Keir Starmer is about to backtrack on Corbyn-era pledges to tackle systemic racism. By Richard Sudan
BLACK LABOUR MPs are urging the party to raise their game on policies to tackle systemic racism, amid fears that Sir Keir Starmer does not want to offer much for fear of scaring the ‘Red Wall.’
MPs and party insiders told The Voice they fear key Corbynera pledges made at the 2019 election, including the promise to “eradicate structural racism in employment”, may soon be ditched.
Labour’s offer to black communities is central to the question of whether the party’s most loyal voter-base is genuinely valued by Sir Keir Starmer, or whether he is taking black votes for granted.
Labour’s mini Race and Faith manifesto in 2019 made a number of promises to end racial disparities in healthcare and carry out an audit of Britain’s colonial legacies, seen as the first step towards reparations.
Dawn Butler MP, who authored that manifesto, is adamant that the aims of the plan must be implemented.
“This manifesto must not only be upheld, but should form the foundation and building block for our party’s offer at the next election.
“This will send a clear message that Labour will not take black, Asian and minority ethnic voters for granted, and will fight for every vote.
“As already agreed, we must implement in full the recommendations from the Forde Report, as well as ensure that we centre the voices of our black, Asian and minority ethnic members, councillors and MPs in everything we do. We must not use one group to attack another.”
Butler, one of Parliament’s few black women MPs, is also deeply troubled by Labour’s obsession with Red Wall “hero voters”.
“While I have heard one-time Labour supporters who backed Brexit being described as ‘hero voters’, I can categorically say all my voters in Brent are also hero voters. We must respect all votes equally,” she said.
Starmer has referred to Labour’s plans to introduce a ‘Race Equality Act’, but there is a lack of information about what it might contain.
MPs say the acid-test for this will be whether individual policies are robust enough to tackle systemic racism.
The only two policy ideas that have been floated are both described as ‘low-hanging fruit’ — ethnicity pay monitoring, which is also supported by the CBI and Theresa May; and enabling allBAME shortlists.
Neither require ‘primary legislation’ to be implemented, just
simple amendments to the existing Equality Act 2010.
Responding to The Voice, a Labour spokesperson said the party “will make tackling structural racial inequality a key mission in government”.
They added that the remaining recommendations of the Lammy review into criminal justice would be implemented. However, while David Lammy’s report, commissioned by David Cameron, mentioned racial disparities in sentencing, there were no recommendations dealing with racial disparities in sentencing.
The spokesperson also promised to “act” to improve health outcomes for BAME communities. The 2019 race manifesto pledged to “end racial disparities” in health.
While the further details of the Act remain unclear, there is also a question mark over the extent to which black members were consulted in its drafting.
According to Labour councillor Maurice Mcleod, recently blocked from the chance to become Peckham’s MP, the Labour Party “needs to co-produce any new Act with communities who actually have lived experience of the racism they are trying to fight”. I am concerned that Labour’s obsession with sidelining voices they consider to be on the left will mean that they don’t listen to many of the people who have been battling racism their whole lives,” he added.
“Introducing a new Race Equality Act is a once in a generation opportunity and must not be squandered with shortsighted factionalism.”
Diane Abbott MP, also speaking to The Voice, expressed weary reservations about Labour’s stance on race equality.
“It is very sad the Labour Party is offering so little substantive on race issues; and this when recent reports show extensive institutional racism in organisations like the police and the fire brigade.
“Black people have always been one of the most loyal voting blocs for Labour. They deserve better than this.”
Another black MP, who didn’t want to be named, told The Voice that while supporting progressive legislation is crucial, unless the Labour leadership “tackles racism at the root” by countering racist rhetoric emanating from the top, a new Race Act would be like “creating a foundation built on sand”.
The MP added that many of his colleagues feel Starmer is closer to emulating the rhetoric of the Tories, than countering it.
A well-placed source within the national party governance structure said that BAME communities cannot be brushed aside with vague promises, and expected to turn out in droves at the ballot for Labour.
The party would have to offer something substantive being offered in return for their vote.
ARE WE VALUED?: Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and deputy leader Angela Rayner taking the knee in 2020; below, David Lammy launching the Race and Faith manifesto in 2019, while Dawn Butler MP says the manifesto must be upheld (photo: Getty Images)
What they could be offering the black community
Race equalities policies mooted by Labour are ‘low hanging fruit’. Here are some more ambitious ideas to make a real difference. By Lester Holloway
DEAL OR NO DEAL: Black communities didn’t ask much and didn’t get a lot from Barack Obama (photo: Getty Images)
AS THE feature opposite suggests, there has been precious little policy development to tackle systemic racism since Sir Keir Starmer took control of the Labour Party. So we would like to suggest a few ideas to begin with. The policies below are the absolute minimum Labour could offer black communities at the next general election if they want the black vote, as opposed to taking it for granted.
The Voice will be consulting our readers, race equality organisations and experts over the year ahead to refine and build upon these suggestions. We are doing this because the road to a black manifesto should not be behind closed doors. There is too much at stake, and so much to change; so we, the people, have to drive the agenda and not leave progress to chance.
With rumours circulating of Labour plans to ditch pledges in the 2019 Race and Faith minimanifesto, frankly we don’t trust the party to move forward without external pressure.
The expertise and lived experience of the black community, inside and outside the party, should be tapped so that Labour end up with a radical and coherent policy offer to commensurate with the scale of the challenge in tackling systemic racism.
Why do we need this? Because, as Frederick Douglass famously said: “Power concedes nothing without demands.”
It could be argued that African-Americans placed too much trust in Barack Obama and did not get him to commit to policies, only to be disappointed at the end of his spell in the White House. We should demand more. This is the start of the process. Please join us. Email: lester.holloway@thevoicemediagroup.co.uk ing; to the environment; health and life expectancy; education; wealth accumulation, assets and pensions.
African and Caribbean Brits are twice as likely to be in poverty, according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, and also twice as likely to be in a low-paid, precarious job, the TUC has found.
The 2017 Race at Work (McGregor Smith) report, commissioned by the government, found that £24 billion — or 1.3 per cent of Gross Domestic Product — is lost from the economy as a result of racism in the jobs market.
Here are some ideas to deal with this:
Auditing and fines
The equalities watchdog — the Equality and Human Rights Commission — must be properly resourced to provide companies with the tools and advice they need to improve outcomes. But it absolutely can’t end there.
There needs to be an auditing regime, perhaps by a beefed-up Audit Commission, with stiff penalties for repeated failures to act. Every company with more than 20 employees should face some form of regular audit, much like schools face from Ofsted.
360 degree monitoring
Ethnicity pay monitoring without action plans is a paper exercise, and pay disparities are unlikely to prove an embarrassment if other workplaces are just as bad.
Action plans need a framework so that bosses are not setting unambitious targets for themselves. This must go beyond pay, because employees need to be monitoring recruitment, retention, promotions and disciplining by ethnicity — and listening to black staff — to get a true picture of what’s happening. This holistic approach should be written into bargaining agreements between employers and unions, with both parties taking responsibility for it.
Public / private contracts
National and local governments spend £300 billion annually on contracts, awarded through a system called procurement. Race equality needs to be hardwired into the contracts, for employment and sub-contracting to give fairer opportunities to smaller black-led firms.
Black workers in outsourced companies, like cleaning, catering and other ancillary services, have seen their wages and rights slashed. These should be in-sourced back to democratic control.
Structural inequality
Abolishing zero hours contracts, and other forms of insecure working will benefit black workers more. But we also need to tackle underemployment.
GOVERNMENT AND JUSTICE
Race Equality Act
This Act needs to enshrine in law the goal of eliminating racial disparities across society, and of open reporting of Equality Impact Assessments. The law should set the framework across Whitehall and all public institutions for real action on racism and move the dial on what counts as ‘positive action’ to provide clarity for employers to try bold new initiatives, as well as enable employers to financially reward, and penalise, bosses for success or failure at reducing racial disparities.
Tackling racial disparities should never be an option. It is essential that the ‘public duties’ to prevent discrimination from happening in the first place always focus on race.
Institutions should ‘explain or change’ racial disparities, and anything outside of that becomes illegal; and the duties under the Equality Act should also apply to the private sector. It is a scandal that successive Chancellors add layer upon layer of discriminatory announcements with each passing budget, without publishing its’ impact on ‘protected characteristics.’ The law should also level the playing field in proving racism at Employment Tribunals, with increased awards.
Reparations
We also need a Reparations Act, to establish a commission to calculate exactly what was gained and lost by enslavement and colonialism, and start a process to deliver this restitution and repair.
Disproportionate sentencing
Labour intends to implement the last remaining bits of the Lammy Review, but they should go further and tackle the judiciary and Crown Prosecution Service over racial disparities in sentencing for the same crimes.
Policing
The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act should be repealed, especially the part allowing stop and search to be carried out without reasonable suspicion. A major funding shift towards dealing with the causes of crime and disorder, and connecting mental health, housing and the police is essential to stop criminalising and start helping those in crisis.
EDUCATION
School exclusions
Exclusions often put black children on the road to prison. Official and unofficial permanent exclusions are a failure of the school to help the child in the vast majority of cases. Instead of PRU’s we should have extra teaching resources so the pupil can be reintegrated into class. Exclusions should count against schools in Ofsted rankings.
Further and Higher Education
New systems are needed to tackle the negative bias in awarding Firsts to black students, and barriers getting into Russell Group universities. Institutions need to work with the government and employers to tackle race barriers to black graduates getting good apprenticeships.
