Asians backing Tories

LABOUR leader Sir Keir Starmer told Eastern Eye last month that ‘there was perception that there was a distance between Labour and some of our Asian communities’ and that he wanted to close the gap ‘much in the mode of engage, engage, engage.’

He said the party had ‘changed under my leadership’, and ‘we are pro-business’.

However, it looks like the Labour leader will have to take a closer look at his engagement strategy after figures this week revealed that his party received a solitary donation from a British Asian individual in the third quarter of the financial year.

Though Labour overtook the Conservative party in terms of total donations for the first time in a year, Sandeep Maudgil, a partner at law firm Slaughter and May, was the only British Asian to donate, giving the party £10,000.

The Tories, on the other hand, continued to receive hefty sums from prominent Asians. Investment banker Malik Karim alone donated over £290,000.

The lack of Asian donors seems to add to the growing calls that the party is allegedly “ignoring” ethnic minority Labour members.

A group of black and Asian members wrote to Sir Keir last month, raising questions about the lack of representation in the party leadership and moves to increase diversity.

Out of the 50 most senior staff working for the Labour party nationally and regionally, just two are have black or ethnic minority heritage.

Historically, it was almost a given that Labour was the go-to party for British Asian voters. But now Sir Keir needs to take a serious look at how he will ‘engage, engage, engage’ if he hopes to increase the party’s appeal to Asians and businesses when it is time for the next general election.