Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Political parties need to improve BAME numbers in local authorities, says report

by LAUREN CODLING

LEADERS of councils have called for local government to “reflect the communities they serve”, as a new report revealed that one-third of local authorities have no BAME councillors.


Released last week, the research conducted by non-partisan political campaigning organisation Operation Black Vote (OBV) analysed more than 100 ‘single tier’ local authorities across England.

Noting the low levels of BAME political representation within areas which have high levels of ethnic minority populations (such as Bromley, Milton Keynes and Reading), the report found that 40 out of 123 local authorities had either none or one ethnic minority councillors – 28 had none while 12 had just one.

Reacting to the findings, the Labour leader of Bury council, councillor Rishi Shori, said it was “massively important” to have a level of representation which accurately reflected communities.

He also believed it could help soothe the public anger with politics.

“At the moment, particularly in context to Brexit, there seems to be such a gulf between the public and their elected representatives,” he said.

“One way of bridging that gap is having an electoral representative who looks and talks like them, and understands issues within local communities.”

Shori, who is the first-ever BAME leader of a council in Greater Manchester, also noted the low levels of females in local government. He believes a planned effort should be made to engage with BAME women to get involved in politics.

According to OBV statistics, only 38.4 per cent of the identified BAME councillors are female.

“If you’re going to change it in a reasonable amount of time, you will need a regulatory change to try and encourage more people to stand and get them elected into positions,” Shori said.

He also mentioned efforts made by the Labour party to increase diversity. For instance, the Bernie Grant Leadership Programme was launched earlier this year with the intention of empowering BAME members to take on leadership positions in the party.

“(However), there needs to be a concerted effort to understand the barriers across all political parties,” Shori stressed.

In its report, OBV has suggested that all political parties undertake a BAME democratic audit of members, staff and elected officials at local and national level, acknowledge their BAME democratic deficit and have a comprehensive plan to balance the disparities.

It also proposed that all parties had a BAME recruitment drive at a local and national level.

Cllr Mohammed Khan is the Labour leader of Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council. Having first become a councillor in 1992, Khan said he could recall a time when no other Asians stood for his local government.

Although he said he did not encounter any barriers when he entered politics, Khan believed a lack of representation in areas with a high BAME population could be due to the political people running a particular council.

“(Minorities) are part of the community and we can’t ignore them,” he said. “We need to engage with them and bring them into the political arena. It is important for local politics that you have some kind of representation.”

The OBV survey also found that BAME councillors are disproportionately affiliated with the Labour party at 84.2 per cent, followed by the Conservative party at 10.9 per cent.

Khan admitted there were no BAME Tory councillors for Blackburn council.

“It is disappointing,” he remarked.

Meanwhile, OBV director Simon Woolley called the findings “depressing”, claiming they appeared to show that some local political leaders did not care about representative democracy.

“Leaving communities without a representative voice is a recipe for community breakdown and discord,” he said.

The Department for Communities and Local Government did not respond to a request for comment.

More For You

ve-day-getty

VE Day 80 street parties, picnics and community get togethers are being encouraged to take place across the country as part of the Great British Food Festival. (Photo: Getty Images)

Public invited to attend VE Day 80 procession and flypast

THE 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe (VE) Day will be marked with a military procession in London on May 5.

The event will include over 1,300 members of the Armed Forces, youth groups, and uniformed services marching from Parliament Square to Buckingham Palace.

Keep ReadingShow less
Knife crimes

Knife-enabled crimes include cases where a blade or sharp instrument was used to injure or threaten, including where the weapon was not actually seen.

Getty Images/iStockphoto

Knife crime in London accounts for a third of national total: ONS

KNIFE-RELATED crime in London made up almost a third of all such offences recorded in England and Wales in 2024, with the Metropolitan Police logging 16,789 incidents, according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Thursday.

This amounts to one offence every 30 minutes in the capital and represents 31 per cent of the 54,587 knife-enabled crimes reported across England and Wales last year. The total number marks a two per cent rise from 53,413 offences in 2023.

Keep ReadingShow less
Starmer and Modi

Starmer and Modi shake hands during a bilateral meeting in the sidelines of the G20 summit at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Brazil, on November 18, 2024.

Getty Images

Starmer calls Modi over Kashmir attack; expresses condolences

PRIME MINISER Keir Starmer spoke to Indian prime minister Narendra Modi on Friday morning following the deadly attack in Kashmir’s Pahalgam region that killed 26 people on Tuesday.

According to a readout from 10 Downing Street, Starmer said he was horrified by the devastating terrorist attack and expressed deep condolences on behalf of the British people to those affected, their loved ones, and the people of India. The two leaders agreed to stay in touch.

Keep ReadingShow less
 Post Office Horizon

A Post Office van parked outside the venue for the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry at Aldwych House on January 11, 2024 in London, England. (Photo: Getty Images)

Getty Images

Post Office spent £600m to keep Horizon despite plans to replace it: Report

THE POST OFFICE has spent more than £600 million of public funds to continue using the Horizon IT system, according to a news report.

Despite deciding over a decade ago to move away from the software, the original 1999 contract with Fujitsu prevented the Post Office from doing so, as it did not own the core software code, a BBC investigation shows.

Keep ReadingShow less
Pahalgam attack: Prayer meet held at Indian mission in London

The prayer meet was led by Indian High Commissioner to the UK Vikram Doraiswami

Pahalgam attack: Prayer meet held at Indian mission in London

Mahesh Liloriya

A PRAYER meet was held at the Gandhi Hall in the High Commission of India in London on Thursday (24) to pay respects to the victims of the Pahalgam terrorist attack.

Chants of ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ rang out at the event which was led by Indian High Commissioner to the UK Vikram Doraiswami.

Keep ReadingShow less