TMP Online

Keith Vaz MP, Chair of the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee and Chair of the Labour Party’s Ethnic Minority Taskforce, introduced his much anticipated 10 minute rule bill – the Race Relations (Election Candidates) Bill – in the House of Commons last week.

The Bill is meant to exclude from the operation of the Race Relations Act 1976 and the Race Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1997 certain matters relating to the selection of candidates by political parties. The Bill would allow political parties to adopt positive discrimination measures such as all ethnic minority shortlists - from which parliamentary candidates would be picked - along the same lines as the legislation introduced to allow for all women shortlists.

The Bill is supported by Britain’s most senior, elected, ethnic minority politician, Skills Minister David Lammy MP, who called for the adoption of such measures last June. Labour Party Deputy Leader and Leader of the Commons, Harriet Harman MP (left) was present at the First Reading of the Bill last Wednesday. Harman, has said that four times the current number of ethnic minority MPs need to be elected if the Commons is to reflect the national population. In a speech to London’s South Bank University recently, she said:
“The last General Election saw a net increase of only two minority ethnic MPs taking the total to just fifteen. But we still have further to go. If the chamber is to reflect the make-up of society, that figure needs to increase four-fold.”

Harman announced at the Labour Party Conference last September that she had asked Simon Woolley (right), the director of the pressure group Operation Black Vote to carry out an investigation into the viability of all ethnic minority shortlists. OBV recently won an award at the highly acclaimed Channel 4/Hansard Society Political Awards for its Welsh Assembly Member Shadowing Scheme. Reports over the weekend indicate that Woolley has now presented his final report to Harman. The Observer reported that Woolley concludes that all-black shortlists would be needed for two decades, after which talented candidates could be expected to make it on their own, and he identifies 100 constituencies with large ethnic minority communities as prime targets for such shortlists. Read the rest of this entry »

Keith Vaz MP, Chair of the Labour Party’s Ethnic Minority Taskforce,  gave a speech last week in the House of Commons to introduce a Race Relations (Election Candidates) Bill, which would allow the introduction of all ethnic minority shortlists for the selection of parliamentary candidates.  A transcript of the speech is below for TMP readers. 

The United Kingdom is a diverse nation. A snapshot of what it means to be British today would surely provide us with a mosaic reflecting the many cultures, ethnicities and religions that make up our population. Post-war and post-colonial migration flows have enriched our country with more than just numbers of people. Every town, city and region has benefited from Leicester to London, from Wembley to Wigan and from Sunderland to Southall. It is not only the composition of our population that has changed, but the composition of our national identity - our Britishness.

The change in our national identity must be reflected in the way we think of ourselves as a country, represent ourselves to others and, most importantly, in the composition of our Parliament. It is that change that must be reflected, and I intend to address it in my Bill. I am delighted to see the Leader of the House of Commons, who is also the Minister for Women and Equality, on the Front Bench because she has championed the cause of equality throughout her long political life.

There are currently 15 ethnic minority Members of this House: 13 Labour Members and two Conservatives. As the House knows, the 2001 census reported a 50 per cent increase in our ethnic population over the last 10 years. The lack of such representation in Parliament is therefore truly disappointing. If Parliament were to reflect adequately the population of ethnic minority citizens, there would be 58 ethnic minority Members of this House. At the current rate at which ethnic minority Members are taking up seats in Parliament, it would take 75 years to achieve a proportion that would reflect the ethnic minority population of our country.

Since 1987, when I was elected along with the hon. Member for Hackney, North and Stoke Newington (Ms Abbott), Mr. Paul Boateng and the late Bernie Grant (pictured right with Vaz), progress has been painfully slow. There were two more ethnic minority Members in 1992, three more in 1997, two more in 2001, four in 2005, and five in by-elections over the last 21 years. It is not that there is a lack of talent, numbers or desire to come to this place, but it is clear that ethnic minorities still face proportionately more hurdles than others in getting elected to this House. This Bill seeks to address the problems of imbalance in representation through the democratic decisions of our political parties, but there is no miracle cure.

The race issue does not have to be divisive; race can be used in a positive way to electrify the political process. Striving for the Democratic nomination in the United States, we have a candidate who embodies the multi-ethnic, multicultural and international character of its society: Barack Obama. Born to a Kenyan father and an American mother, and having spent part of his childhood in Indonesia, Senator Obama is a poster boy for the integration and amalgamation that has taken place globally - the mixing of cultures and consequent reforming of identities.

Read the rest of this entry »

Fresh from victory in Washington, Maine, Louisiana, Nebraska and the British Virgin Islands, Senator Barack Obama is hoping to win the U.S. Democratic primaries in Virginia, Maryland and Washington DC today. In the latest poll of polls he leads Senator Hillary Clinton by 17.7 points in Virginia, 22.3 points in Maryland, and is expected to take Washington DC.

Presently Obama has 1144 delegates to the Democratic Party’s national convention in August which will decide who becomes the party’s nominee in the presidential election on 4 November. Clinton has 1138 delegates but, crucially, has more super delegates than Obama – 213 to his 140. Super delegates are made up of current or former elected officeholders and party officials – the party establishment - and are free to support any candidate for the nomination, whereas other delegates are subject to some kind of mandate, primarily based on how their state voted in its primary or caucus. Democratic super delegates are thought to favour Clinton.

Meanwhile in the latest national poll by Associated Press/Ipsos into how the two remaining Democtaic contenders would fare against the likely Republican nominee, Senator John McCain, Obama leads McCain by 6 points, whilst Clinton only leads McCain by 1 point. This will be of assistance to Obama in winning over the party establishment who commentators now predict will determine the winner if the race continues through to the summer.

TMP editor, Chuka Umunna, enters into the stop and search debate and warns against the perils of playing politics in this arena. 

One spring day in April 1981 my mother popped down to Brixton with her little toddlers, to do a spot of shopping. Little did she know what was about to unfold; as the tension mounted and the violence started, she literally sprinted to our car with her two bundles of joy - my sister in her pushchair and me on foot - and fled. She still talks with relief about how she knew the various side roads out of the area, enabling us to make that quick exit more than 20 years ago.

You see, when Conservative leader David Cameron seeks to kick about the stop and search issue as if it were just another political football, this is the arena into which he is lobbing it. It is common currency that it was the disproportionate use of stop and search powers by the police then, in addition to the deprivation which many in urban Britain suffered under Margaret Thatcher, that led to the riots that spring day.

Unlike Cameron, it appears that history has not been lost on Sir Ronnie Flanagan, whose report into policing is published today. Yes, things are different now. The police are not so “gung-ho” in the use of their powers and we have different issues, the number of violent murders of young people in London last year among them. But Flanagan has recognised the need to ensure the police command the respect of all communities given his proposal to retain the “stop and search” form to demonstrate accountability, particularly to ethnic minorities, though he sensibly acknowledges procedures need to be streamlined through the use of modern technology. No doubt his experience in Northern Ireland has informed his outlook.

The Tory leader, on the other hand, has adopted a completely different approach. In his interview in the Sun last week, we were told how he “sees the effects of the violent crime explosion as he cycles to the Commons” from his home in Notting Hill. No doubt he stops every now and then to talk to the locals on his way. Cameron would have us believe that his finger is on the pulse of urban Britain, while Gordon Brown doesn’t recognise the problems. So what did he propose? “Freeing” the police to do “far more stopping and far more searching,” without which we are not going to be able to deal with the current problems, he says. He wants to do away with accountability measures, such as the forms, which were introduced to ensure the police use their stop and search powers properly:

“In the British police service there were problems with racism, there were problems with attitude. That needed to change, I think it has now been changed. I am quite clear the current rules have to go.”

He conveniently forgets the numerous deaths of black people in police custody, like Michael Powell in 2003, and the dreadful reports of racism in police training centres such as those in Hendon and Cheshire since the publication of the Macpherson report, which found institutional racism to be rife in the Metropolitan police.

Read the rest of this entry »

TMP’s European columnist looks at the intersection of religion and politics in the EU.

How we bridge the gap between religion and politics in a multi-cultural society is something that is being considered across Europe. I recently attended a meeting of the Dutch Labour Party (PvdA) in London where this issue was debated (see: www.londen.pvda.nl).

The Netherlands has an interesting history where the divide between Catholicism and Protestantism was a significant issue. Now, with a growing Muslim population, the balance between religion and the state has come to the fore again. The PvdA has argued strongly in favour of a separation of church and state in the past. However, today it is taking a more pragmatic approach in some areas, for example through supporting the founding of religious schools.

Across Europe the fault line between religion and politics has raised its head. In France the state is constitutionally secular and there was great debate about the wearing of the hijab in schools. In the UK the recent debate around Catholic adoption agencies, and whether they could be forced to treat a gay couple in the same way as a straight couple seeking to adopt provides another example.

In much of western Europe the traditional centre right parties call themselves Christian Democrats. This often leads to the main centre left party seeking to distance themselves from the church. This has lead to interesting results. In Spain the centre left pushed past a law allowing for gay marriage against a strong lobby from the Vatican. In Italy, the same issue has just pulled apart Prodi’s centre left governing coalition and new elections are now on the cards (Italian PM Romano Prodi is pictured, right, with the Pope).

There is clearly no one model as to how the state interacts with the church and religion in Europe, something that led to a heated debated as to whether the now defunct European constitution should include a reference to God. I am glad that it did not, as the interaction between religion and the state clearly varies so much. However there is a role for the EU in sharing knowledge about balancing this interaction. As our societies grow ever more multi-cultural it is vital that the state is seen to be fair to all religious groups, not favouring institutionalised religion over others. Examples from other European countries could help guide our politicians when they seek to address issues.

Anne Fairweather is TMP’s European columnist and a Prospective European Parliamentary Candidate for Labour in London.

Ahead of the “Super Tuesday” Democratic Party primaries in the US this evening, watch this music video “Yes We Can” which is inspired by Senator Barack Obama’s presidential bid. It has been produced by Black Eyed Peas frontman, will.i.am, and film maker Jesse Dylan (son of John).

Commenting on ABC News on the video, will.i.am said of Obama’s speech (after the New Hampshire primary) which inspired the video:
“It made me reflect on the freedoms I have, going to school where I went to school, and the people that came before Obama like Martin Luther King, presidents like Abraham Lincoln that paved the way for me to be sitting here on ABC News and making a song from Obama’s speech”.

The video features Scarlett Johansson, John Legend, Herbie Hancock, Kate Walsh, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Adam Rodriquez, Kelly Hu, Adam Rodriquez, Amber Valetta and Nick Cannon.

Meanwhile, Obama was working New Jersey voters yesterday with Hollywood actor, Robert de Niro. De Niro said Obama was the “one person has given me hope, has made me believe that we can make a change.”

New research for the TUC published today reveals that the public purse loses £13 billion a year through tax avoidance by the wealthy and £12 billion a year through tax avoidance by corporations. Altogether this adds up to £25 billion - or around £1,000 a year for everyone at work in the UK.

The research, conducted by accountant and tax specialist Richard Murphy, is published in “The Missing Billions”, the first in a new series of TUC pamphlets designed to stimulate debate called Touchstones. The research includes the analysis of 344 sets of accounts from Britain’s 50 largest companies and analysis of HMRC and other official statistics.

Analysis of the top 50 companies’ accounts shows that their effective corporation tax rate is 22.5 per cent - not the 30 per cent agreed by Parliament. The companies almost always pay 5 per cent less tax on average than they declare in their accounts and in the seven years up to 2006 their effective tax rate fell by 0.5 per cent each year.

The report shows how super-rich individuals avoid paying their fair share of tax. £3.2 billion tax is lost by turning earned income into investment income (which is taxed more favourably) or by shifting the income to others (such as spouses) in lower or nil tax bands. Another £3.8 billion is lost moving transactions out of the UK, £0.5 billion by turning income into a capital gain and £4.8 billion from various kinds of tax planning.

Half the amount lost to tax avoidance could raise the level at which higher rate tax starts being paid by £10,000 a year, which would also offer significant help to those on middle incomes; or increase the state pension by 20 per cent; or reduce income tax by 3p in the pound; or build an extra 50 hospitals a year.

The Touchstone pamphlet calls for:

- a minimum rate of tax to be paid by all those earning more than £100,000 a year to limit their use of tax avoidance and tax planning, without affecting the tax rates of middle Britain;
- a stop to HMRC staff cuts so that there are sufficient resources to effectively collect tax;
- the non-dom tax loophole to be abolished;
- capital gains on assets held for less than a year to be charged to income tax;
- a change to the tax treatment of charities to give them more income and close a tax loophole; and,
- the introduction of a new ‘general anti-avoidance principle’ to make it easier to tax the super-rich and large companies.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: ‘There is mounting concern at the growing gap between the super-rich and the rest of society, but so far there have been few practical proposals to do anything about it. This TUC pamphlet is therefore doubly helpful. First it carefully works out just how much the super-rich and big companies rip the rest of us off by not paying their fair share of taxes. Secondly it sets out a practical set of policies that close loopholes, end abuse and starts the process of making the super-rich make a proper contribution - all without raising a single tax rate.

‘Our strong view is that the proceeds should be used to properly fund public services, where six million are facing cuts in their real pay, and relieve poverty - particularly child poverty. But you do not have to agree with our spending priorities to back our call for fair tax, and we recognise the argument at this difficult economic time for boosting the income of low and middle Britain through tax cuts.

‘This is not the politics of envy but the economics of fairness. It is all about getting rich and powerful people to understand they must play by the rules, not look for ways round them.”

Senator Barack Obama won the South Carolina primary on Saturday taking 55% of the vote to Senator Hillary Clinton’s 27%. Notably, he picked up a greater proportion of white Democrats’ votes than expected.

The Democratic nomination juggernaut swings into Florida today for the controversial primary there which, like Michigan’s, has been outlawed by the Democratic Party. Floridian Democratic delegates will not be able to take their seats at the party’s national convention as the state party is being penalised for holding its primary before 5 February.

Obama has not campaigned in Florida but Clinton has, and it is widely believed she may challenge the national party’s ruling as commentators predict the race could come down to the delegate count at the Democratic Party’s national convention in August. A candidate needs 2,025 delegates to win the nomination and it is estimated that Obama currently has 63 delegates, whilst Clinton has 48.

Yesterday Obama received a massive boost with the endorsement of Senator Edward Kennedy, the younger brother of President John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who were both assassinated in the 1960s. Flanked by ”JFK’s” daughter Caroline and his son Congressman Patrick Kennedy, “Ted” Kennedy declared “I feel change in the air”.  He went on,
“With Barack Obama, we will turn the page on the old politics of misrepresentation and distortion.
“With Barack Obama we will close the book on the old politics of race against race, gender against gender, ethnic group against ethnic group, and straight against gay.”

Comparing Obama to his older brother JFK, Kennedy said,
“There was another time, when another young candidate was running for president and challenging America to cross a new frontier. He faced public criticism from the preceding Democratic president.
“That president, Harry Truman, urged patience. And John Kennedy replied: ‘The world is changing. The old ways will not do. It is time for a new generation of leadership.’ So it is with Barack Obama.
“[Barack Obama] will be a president who refuses to be trapped in the patterns of the past.
“He is a leader who sees the world clearly without being cynical. He is a fighter who cares passionately about the causes he believes in, without demonising those who hold a different view.”

Over 20 states vote in primaries and caucuses next Tuesday in a race that appears to be wide open.  You can watch Edward Kennedy’s endorsement of Obama below.

TMP readers will have been interested to hear that Helen Grant (right), a black, female lawyer was selected as the Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate in the safe Tory seat of Maidstone and the Weald last weekend. 

Helen Grant is highly likely to succeed the sitting Conservative MP, Ann Widdecombe, in the seat.  She is the owner of Grant Solicitors a specialist law firm dealing with the problems of family breakdown in London, Surrey and Kent. 

Of Grant’s selection, Conservative Party Chair, Caroline Spelman MP, said “Helen’s selection as the candidate for Maidstone and The Weald is great news and further proof of the changes that have happened in the Conservative Party under David Cameron.

“As you’d expect the calibre of applicants for this Parliamentary seat was very high indeed and Helen’s success is a credit to her and the local association.
“Helen has a high standard to live up to but I have no doubt she will excel.”

But controversy erupted over the weekend following revelations in the Mail on Sunday that Grant was only recently a member of the Labour Party.  Commenting on her past association with the Labour Party, Grant said,

“I have never been a member of the Croydon Labour party. I was a member of the Reigate & Banstead branch from mid 2004. I never attended any of their meetings, made no donations and did no canvassing or campaigning work for them at all. I have never denied my association with the Labour party and talked of it in a newspaper interview published in the summer of 2006.

Read the rest of this entry »

Despite a difficult two months, during which the Evening Standard newspaper has waged a concerted campaign against him and his advisors, and Channel 4 broadcast a “Dispatches” programme highly critical of him, the latest You Gov/ITV poll shows that London Labour Mayor Ken Livingstone has increased his lead in the polls over his Conservative rival, Boris Johnson MP.

The poll shows Livingstone on 44%, whilst Johnson – who is strongly supported by the Evening Standard – is on 40%, with the Liberal Democrats Brian Paddick on 8%. Notably the poll was conducted after the broadcast of the Dispatches programme which was widely reported.

A spokesperson for Livingstone’s campaign said:
“This is a welcome opening up of Ken’s lead, especially as Internet polling has always underestimated Ken’s support compared to actual elections and other opinion polls.
“The election for Mayor will be decided on the key issues of transport, crime, affordable housing, good community relations and the environment and Londoners will refuse to be distracted by nonsense and falsifications being spouted out daily in media storms from his opponents.
“Ken will run on his record and extending London’s success into a third term. He has already announced two new commitments - to extend the hours of the Freedom Pass to a twenty four hour service and his plan to extend student travel discounts - and others will follow on the environment, crime, good community relations, transport and housing.”

Meanwhile, Johnson’s campaign came under fire during the weekend amid charges of conflict of interest when it was revealed that his London mayoral campaign is receiving financial support from a controversial Japanese company that has clashed with Livingstone’s office over multimillion-pound plans for development in the capital.

The Mayoral poll takes place in May, later this year.