Labour will do more to deliver on diversity, says party leader
RISHI SUNAK’S appointment as the UK’s first non-white prime minister divided political commentators, writes Barnie Choudhury.
Some praised his elevation as a sign that race was not a factor in someone ascending to the top job in politics in Britain.
But others remained critical of how inequalities had widened among ethnic minority communities in the UK under successive Conservative governments.
Pushed on why the Conservatives had stolen a march on promoting south Asians talent, especially to the top four high offices of state – the prime minister, chancellor, home secretary and foreign secretary – Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer gave a surprising response.
“I think those old four great offices of state is yesterday. The Labour party’s done far more on equality than the Conservatives,” Sir Keir said. “Look at all the equalities acts – they didn’t come from Conservative governments.
“There’s a fresh discussion to be had about immigration, now we’ve left the EU and how we have, in principle, a position on that, but there’s always more to be done.
“I’m proud of our party’s record, and if you look at political representation as a whole, you will see a much more diverse team from the Labour party.
“But I’m not going to shy away from the fact that we’ve got to do more, and I’m determined to do that. That is a challenge, I will take up and deliver on it.”
The Labour leader also rejected the notion by many south Asians that his party had taken their vote for granted.
“That’s not true. Every vote has to be earned, whether it’s the south Asian vote or any other vote.
“What I’m absolutely determined to do is to show the Labour party has changed. We are not the same party that lost that election in 2019.
“What I’ve been able to do particularly this year, once the Covid restrictions fell away, we could do more events. I’ve attended Diwali events, I’ve been to the [Bhaktivedanta] Manor (in Watford, north London), to various other celebrations, and actually engaged in a much more meaningful way.
“That’s really important to me, and one of my messages to the Asian communities is about rebuilding, reengaging and making it absolutely clear that every single vote matters to us. But not in a complacent way, in a way of knowing I’ve got to earn every vote.”
British Indians, once considered traditional Labour supporters, shifted loyalties in 2019, when the party was under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.
At the party’s annual conference that year, delegates passed a resolution criticising Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s decision to change Jammu and Kashmir’s autonomous status. It led to protests in Britain, with clashes between Indian and Pakistani supporters.
Sir Keir refused to apologise for the conference motion.
“The relationship between India and the UK is a historic one, which we care about, we nurture, and I want to build and strengthen.
“India is a democratic country. We want to work with and deepen those relationships and go forward with the free trade agreement.
“Predominantly India or Pakistan and Kashmir have got to resolve that, and anything we can do to help that, the better.
“Being clear about where we go forward is really important, but also being absolutely clear that the Labour party has changed in the last two and-a-half years.
“I recognised when I became leader that I had to pick a party up and make us fit for government. The first bit of that was changing the Labour party and looking at the issues including with the Asian communities where we needed to re-engage.
“In opposition, the lighthouse only sweeps round every now and again onto the opposition, and it’s swept around onto us now.
“People are seeing a change to Labour party, that’s why you’re getting this engagement, because they can see we’ve changed.
“The question now is, do we have the answers to the huge challenges for the country going forward, which are credible? “And the answer to that is yes.” So, was Indian prime minister a friend of Britain or an enemy?
Sir Keir said, “Modi is a democratically elected leader of India. We need to work with the democratically elected leader of India on a trade agreement, and on resolving other issues. Whatever other political issues that may be, let me be very clear that is for the people of India to elect their leader, their prime minister, and we respect that.”