By Dipankar De Sarkar, IANS
London : An attempt by Britain’s longest-serving Asian MP to bring more ethnic minority politicians into the British parliament has won approval from the opposition Liberal Democrats and the author of a Labour-sponsored study.
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has written to Keith Vaz supporting his bill to allow for the creation of shortlists on the grounds of ethnicity in the selection of parliamentary candidates at the next elections. Clegg said that his party might even consider all-minority shortlists in the future if it cannot increase the number of MPs from ethnic minorities.
The Liberal Democrats – Britain’s third largest party in parliament – currently do not have a single Black or Asian MP. The ruling Labour Party leads with 13, while the Tories – the largest in opposition – have only two.
Clegg said: “We need urgent action to tackle the woeful under-representation of Britain’s ethnic minorities in parliament. All political parties are letting Britain down. If we want to represent modern Britain, modern Britain must be represented in us.
“Legislating to allow all-minority shortlists is a crucial step, which should be used as a backstop to force parties to act now. We can no longer tolerate a political system that does not represent Britain as a whole.”
Alongside, Equalities Minister and Labour chairwoman Harriet Harman is reported to be considering a report whose author recommends changes to race relations laws so that all-ethnic shortlists can be introduced.
Winning Harman’s approval is crucial, Vaz told IANS last week.
“They have done it in America. If Harriet Harman decides, we will be the first country in the world to have such a law,” Vaz said.
Black and Asian MPs make up just two percent of MPs in the British lower house of parliament. Vaz wants to increase their number from the current 15 to 58.
According to Simon Woolley, the author of the report that was commissioned by Harman, such short-lists would be needed over the next 20 years in eight constituencies but they would have to be voluntary.
Woolley, who belongs to a lobby group called Operation Black Vote, says such a move would also help “kill off the fire of extremism” in Britain.
“What this report does is enable greater representative democracy which kills off the fire of extremism. It will allow a significant minority of society to feel they have a greater say and involvement in the democratic process,” Woolley said.
Vaz’s bill could well receive wider support as parties that implement such short-lists are certain to be backed by black and Asian voters at the next elections – due by 2010 but widely predicted to be held next year.
So far, the bill has been publicly opposed by only one MP – Philip Davies of the Tory Party, who says candidates should be selected on merit. Positive discrimination – or reservation – is illegal in Britain but MPs amended the law some years ago to enable all-women shortlists, which has vastly increased the number of female MPs and ministers in Britain.
Vaz is inspired by the success of Black politicians in America, such as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, her predecessor Colin Powell and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.
“It’s not that we don’t have Obamas, but we don’t have the mechanisms for them to see the light of day,” said Woolley.
The report identifies 100 constituencies with large ethnic minority communities as prime targets for shortlists, but concludes that positive discrimination would be needed in only four to eight of those seats for four elections in a row to ensure that the proportion of ethnic minority MPs matches the proportion in the population.
According to some reports, Harman has expressed personal support for a change.