In Reply to The Voice Newspaper dated 25-31 July 2013 Is Labour Losing The Black Vote?

Dear Editor,
In reply to the Voice Newspaper dated 25-31 July 2013 Is Labour Losing The Black Vote?
I note with grave concerns to know that the Voice has taken the decision to pander to centre right agenda which most popular newspaper seemed to have adopted since 1997 then they moved to the right and failing to get the full facts in regards to Labour Party selection process. The simple fact is not many Black and Ethnic Minorities are not coming forward to stand as candidates in Labour Party. I can assure the Voice Newspaper that Labour Party does inform and encourages BAME party members to stand candidates for European, General, Local  NEC, NPF, and Standing Orders Elections.

If candidates are not coming forward that’s down to a number of factors such as candidates does not meet the criteria or they lack the knowledge on how the European, Parliamentary, and Local Government structures is implemented  and some of us fail to turn up to campaign meetings when it has been arranged by the ward and CLP secretaries. Granted there could another factor which most candidates fail to understand that camapign cost money and some have the fear of losing their deposits. There is a saying:

“MONEY, MONEY NO MONEY NO TALK”

They are the ones who moan the most in my opinion that the party does not do anything for Black, Ethnic Minorities and Chinese yet they are not prepared to do nothing about it.

Labour has many self-organize groups that members can attend and participate which they receive information on a regular basis I can give a number of ways how I am active in Labour Party.  I’m heavily involved in Chinese for Labour and BAME Labour are some examples where we encourage members from Black and Ethic Minorities to come forward to stand as candidates. Many regional and local parties do encourage members to stand as candidates if members are being put off it’s because they lack the skills to make a difference.

You may say that is not the case. However I can argued that I have mentored and trained many black and Ethnic Minorities to stand as candidates and some have moved forward whilst some decided that they were not ready to stand as candidates and I would like to take issue with Marc Wadseorth as he seems to forget that not all black and ethnic minorities votes for Labour but they do vote for the Conservatives and LibDems as their status improves.

In terms of de-selection from any political parties this is an internal matter for the political parties to sort out. Yes it’s disappointing and it’s hurting but do remember there is the appeal process that he or she can refer to. Although I do not know about the individual case therefore I can not comment. One thing that I am certain of is the members have a right to deselect a sitting councillor(s) unless its been brought to the attention to the Labour Group Leader, or secretary, to regional office of the Labour Party attention they can recommend to the NEC to investigate depending on the charges he or she can exercise the right to challenge alleged incident. Then there is the Standards Committee they have the power to investigate any issues that has been referred to them.

The other side of the coin is that anybody who stands for General Elections need to pay for campaigns which the candidates will have to part pay for then the rest is paid for by the Labour Party this includes fund-raising etc which helps to of set the campaigns then there is community activities that they have to attend to promote him or her self.

Some of your readers may recall the former Black Socialist Society I concur did many things to promote black and ethnic minorities to stand as candidates for the party. Do remember that all the socialist societies were suspended and it went though a period of change the then Socialist Society is now called BAME Labour and our representative on the NEC is Keith Vaz MP.

The voice alleges Labour has not done nothing for the Black community I rebut this by stating the facts yes Labour has introduced the Race Relation, Implemented the Stephen Lawrence, and other policies however more can be done. I put the question to all your readers:

“Do you really think that the Coalition would have implemented those policies and recruit more candidates from Black and Ethnic Minorities I think not”.

The fact that Theresa May MP spoke of Stop and Search then some black communities continues to cave in play into the hand of tokenism. Well done. It’s about time that all Black and Ethnic Communities stand united and not fall into the trap of Big Island VS Small Island. The only agenda May has on her mind is to become the leader of the Conservatives and once she achieves this back to business again by bashing the Black and Ethic Minorities. It’s no surprise the ad vans “Go Home” appearing in Black and Ethnic Minorities communities.

I take leave and I would remind all brothers and sisters of another quote

“Pick Sense Out Of Nonsense”

Gordon Lyew