We need to get out and vote in London
14 12 2007
TMP advisory board member and London Assembly Member, Murad Qureshi AM (pictured on the left with Viendra Sharma MP), explains why it is so important for London’s ethnic minority communities to get out and vote in the May 2008 GLA elections.
As we approach the London Assembly elections next year, Labour can be proud of its achievements in relation to the representation of ethnic minorities in London and the policy successes we have delivered to date.
On the Assembly, Labour is presently the only party with ethnic minority representation and a majority of female members. 50 per cent of our candidates for the May 2008 London Assembly constituency elections are from an ethnic minority background including Navin Shah in Brent & Harrow, Shafi Khan in Croydon & Sutton, Ranjit Dheer in Ealing & Hillingdon, Balvinder Saund in Havering & Redbridge, Jennette Arnold AM in North East London, Ansuya Sodha in South West London and myself in West Central London.
Since the 2004 elections, ethnic minority London Assembly members on the Labour Group have actively supported the Mayor’s budget to finance the organisation of events such as the Annual Diwali Festival, the Annual London Mela, the Annual Eid Celebration, the Women in London’s Economy Conference, a Black History Month Event, Holocaust Memorial Day and the Rise (London United Against Racism) Festival. We have also represented London’s BME communities on the Assembly by promoting equal opportunities and challenging discrimination in London.
However, all this could be tarnished if our communities do not get out and vote in May 2008. There is a significant chance that the BNP will gain at least one seat this time round. Five percent of the vote will give the far-right party one seat and eight percent will give it two.
And the threat is real. Earlier this year, Nick Griffin claimed that the BNP would win between one and three seats in the next GLA elections. At the last GLA elections, they came within just 0.1% of gaining a GLA seat. Since then the party has gained 12 councillors in Barking and Dagenham and one in each of Havering and Redbridge. There are a further six BNP councillors just over the London border in Loughton. Support for the BNP appears to be concentrated around the outskirts 
of London, particularly in outer East London and on the fringes of South and South West London.
The one thing that can help prevent the BNP from winning Assembly Seats is a high voter turnout. Searchlight, the anti-racism organisation, has argued that a 45% turnout is needed to prevent the BNP from winning any seats. So if Labour’s achievements in London do not move you to get out and vote, at least do so to keep this odious party out of our City Hall.
Murad Qureshi AM is a London wide member of the London Assembly. He is also a member of the TMP advisory board. Check out his website here - http://muradqureshi.com/.
Murad Qureshi AM is so right about this, I was in City Hall in 2004 when the winners of the Mayoral and GLA Assembly seats were being announced and the hairs stood up on the back of my neck, my heart rate went into overdrive, due to the anger and repulsion I experienced when it looked as if the British Nationlist Party (BNP) had pipped the then UK Party to the last London-wide seat. I have similar feelings now when I look up and witness them sitting in the chamber of City Hall, and at times heckling Mayor Livingstone. That why one of my pledges for the 2008 May 1st London elections is to fight for every vote, so that we can stop the BNP getting a List seat on the London Assembly. I look forward to working with readers, Murad Qureshi AM, John Cruddas MP and others over the coming months to achieve this Goal.
I think that some Tories are playing dangerous games with the BNP. The fact that the BNP have asked their voters to give second preference to Johnson could be a determining factor in who becomes Mayor. Like it or not we must face the fact that support for the BNP is increasing. Some Conservatives may be tempted to welcome the BNP support whatever their leadership and candidate say publicly. One Tory I know says he is urging a Johnson/Barnbrook vote.