London: Black and ethnic minority (BME)
voters may play a key role in deciding the formation of the
next British government as they will have a decisive say in
100 of the 646 constituencies in the UK.
Operation Black Vote, the campaign to address the
under-representation of ethnic minorities in politics, said
seats such as Finchley and Golders Green, held by Labour with
a slender margin as a result of boundary changes, show the
BME`s clout in the north London constituency.
Other key seats include Solihull, Crawley, Battersea,
Harlow, Bradford West, Ealing North, Birmingham Yardley and
Hove.
Simon Woolley, OBV`s director, told the Guardian: "Never
before in British history have our communities been so
strategically well placed and mobilised to push for an agenda
of racial justice."
With the election expected to be very close with the
latest poll in Mirror projecting a 5-point lead to
Conservatives (Conservatives 35 per cent, Labour 30 per cent
and Liberal Democrats 21 per cent), race equality should be a
priority, a coalition of BME organisations stated today.
Dave Weaver, chair of the 1990 Trust, the national black
organisation set up to protect the interests of Britain`s
black communities, said: "Black Britons are third-class
citizens in a country that claims to have a first-class
democracy.
"This manifesto calls for racial equality to be
considered central to achieving a cohesive and successful
economy. We will distribute this to every black and minority
ethnic community in the UK," Weaver said.
"Furthermore we can demonstrate that tackling racism is
not only right in a moral sense, it`s also an imperative for a
successful economic recovery."
Karen Chouhan, of Equanomics UK said: "The poverty and
unemployment levels in BME communities are staggering. It is
gross that in this context ?850 billion has bailed out the
banks."
PTI
