Labour must look like the country it seeks to serve
Diversity is a hot issue at the moment. Everyone is talking about it. We cheered Beyoncé showcasing Black Lives Matter at the Superbowl. We tutted at why so few actors of colour were nominated at #Oscarsowhite. We rejoiced at Sadiq Khan becoming the first Muslim mayor of London.
But despite the euphoria we all felt about Sadiq and Marvin Rees, newly elected mayor of Bristol, Labour has to do more to move the needle in improving diversity and better understanding black and Asian voters.
The first thing is opening up our politics. We have got to be a party that does more than rely on the fact that we had the first black and Asian members of parliament in Bernie Grant, Diane Abbott, Keith Vaz and Paul Boateng back in the 1980s.
Organisations like Operation Black Vote help get black and Asian people into politics, but do we use them enough? We are sometimes blinded by our tribalism when it comes to talent-spotting. Bristol’s new mayor told the Daily Politics that he came through OBV and that at times people questioned how much of a party man he was because he had not been a usual suspect among Labour circles.
Are our political meetings all-white affairs with a black or brown face a rare sight?
Do we do enough to reach out to women from black and Asian backgrounds? There have been complaints about Muslim women being discouraged from standing in certain areas to allow for a favoured son to take the seat. That is something we need to investigate properly and challenge if there is evidence of that.
Do we support and promote our black and Asian MPs enough? Do we see them enough on national broadcast? Just as we should use our working-class voices more, so should we use our diversity to show we represent the whole of the country.
Do we do enough to make sure our important political backroom jobs are from a diverse pool of people? The business of politics and those crucial entry-level jobs are still too often a place for bright middle-class young white men from good universities. Do we even know how we perform in terms of our diversity? I cannot think of many black and brown faces at Labour headquarters or at the weekly political adviser meetings. The party will do better if we have a mix of people and avoid groupthink.
But most importantly, we must stop seeing the entire non-white population as a big lump called ‘the BAME vote’ – and we must stop making lazy assumptions that it will always vote Labour. They won’t, and the last election showed that many are not. We need to understand that different communities have sophisticated concerns and wants. Muslim people do not want to only hear about Palestine or Prevent. They have the same concerns as anyone else about jobs for their kids and grandkids. They want to see, above all, politicians and a party that gets them, that understands their stories.
Sadiq and Marvin’s victories gave us great joy but we must not retreat into our comfort zone on race. We must look like the country we seek to serve at every level of the party.
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Ayesha Hazarika is a broadcaster and former adviser to Ed Miliband and Harriet Harman
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