Raj Jethwa, the London Labour Party’s ethnic minority officer, argues that Labour must not get complacent about representation.

On 15 May, I attended a meeting of the Harrow Council Cabinet to provide support for Labour Councillor Nana Assante, who presented a petition against the Conservative administration’s threat to drastically reduce support for Black History Month in the borough. In the year that we celebrate 200 hundred years since the abolition of the slave trade in the UK, in one of the most diverse boroughs in the country, it beggars belief that Cameron’s new look Conservatives could be so culturally-insensitive.

If this illustrates one point in particular, it is that those striving for greater diversity in our political system shouldn’t hold their breathe waiting for the Tories.

In 2005 and 2006, Harrow’s Labour administration spent £10,000 on Black History Month, community groups were invited to participate in a Black History Month Forum, and events took place from September to November. This year the Conservative-run council proposes only one day of activities and has provided no details of a budget.

Celebrating Black History Month properly is an important way of improving the confidence and promoting the positive contributions of Black people in British society. Crucially, it is a key element of celebrating our diversity.

Ironically, nowhere is the issue of diversity more alive than in London. Nearly one in three Londoners are from ethnic minority communities. Half of the UK’s ethnic minority population lives in London.

And yet, looking at London’s political representatives illustrates the fact that we cannot be complacent. The proportion of councillors in London from an ethnic minority background is less than 11 percent. Out of 74 Members of Parliament, there are only five from ethnic minority communities. Out of the 25 members of the Greater London Assembly, there are only two ethnic minority Assembly Members. All seven of those individuals are Labour.

When there is still so much left to achieve, allowing councils like Harrow to take a major step backwards is simply not an option.

What is clear, however, is that when Labour is defeated, equality is usually put into the reverse. Take the London Borough of Brent, the most diverse borough in Europe. Under Labour, the majority of the council’s executive was drawn from councillors from ethnic minority communities. Following Labour’s defeat at last year’s local elections, the Tory-Liberal Democrat coalition has completely reversed that position.

London is a key General Election battleground for Labour. To win, Labour needs to rebuild and retain its support among black and minority ethnic communities. In part, that requires a better fielding of ethnic minority candidates. As Ethnic Minorities Officer of the London Labour Party, I have worked with activists across the Capital to look at ways of increasing diversity within the Party. Through a series of events, we have encouraged a growing number of Party members from different ethnic minority backgrounds to become active campaigners, to stand for local elections and to put themselves forward for the parliamentary panel.

Those events have also served as a mechanism for those members to share their experiences – and frustrations – with the Party’s structures and selection procedures; feedback which the Party should welcome if it is serious about improving ethnic minority representation. A concrete outcome of these discussions was a guide for ethnic minority activists launched last year.

In London we have seen the most significant presence of the BNP in our Boroughs since the early 1990s. At the same time, the London bombings in July 2005 and events since have served to increase tensions among and between communities. Following the London bombings last year there were 269 religious hate crimes in the three weeks after 7 July, compared with 40 in the same period for 2004. In the first three days after the bombings, there were 68 “faith hate” crimes in London alone.

When our cultural diversity is under threat, Labour has to show solidarity with all of London’s diverse communities. Labour has always been able to rely on the vote of Britain’s ethnic minority communities. For that to remain the case, Labour has to be equal to the challenge posed by the far right, but it also has to be in a position to genuinely speak for all of our communities, ensuring that our Party and our politicians are just as diverse as the people we seek to represent.

Raj Jethwa is Ethnic Minorities Officer of the London Labour Party.