Britain can be incredibly unfair if you are from an ethnic minority community. You are more likely to be poor, out of work, and live in deprived areas of the country. Mismanagement of the immigration system has stoked up fear and persecution. Young black and Asian men in particular are far more likely to be stopped by the police, even
when they have done nothing wrong.
Liberal Democrats will build a fair, united society which has opportunities for everyone, no matter their background, faith or race. We believe Britain is stronger as a diverse, multi-ethnic and multi-faith society, and will never pander to anti-immigrant sentiment. We have taken on the BNP and won in towns and cities across Britain. We’ll ensure everyone is protected from violence, discrimination and harassment, and that people from ethnic minorities get fairly treated by the police. We’ll make the immigration system firm and fair to restore confidence without pandering to hatred. We’ll fight terrorism by prosecuting terrorists not persecuting innocent people or communities.
KEY POLICIES
Our core policies to make Britain fair will make a huge difference to improving lives for people from ethnic communities.
We will cut taxes and make work pay by ensuring no-one pays income tax on the
first £10,000 they earn.
We will introduce a pupil premium, putting an average extra £2,500 into the
education of all children on free school meals.
We will renovate empty homes that so often blight inner city communities.
We will put thousands more police on the streets to keep people safe.
In addition to our commitment to fairness for all we make the following commitments to
deal with specific issues that primarily or disproportionately affect BAME communities.
1. Get innocent people off the DNA database.
Britain has the largest DNA database in the world, with details of a million innocent people’s genetic profile.
Black people are hugely over-represented because they’re so much more likely to be stopped by the police. We will remove all the innocent DNA from the database, and only store DNA from people who’ve actually committed a crime.
2. Create a fair but firm immigration system to restore confidence.
We will create a fair immigration system that works and promotes integration. We’ll make sure visa applications, especially for relatives, are dealt with fairly and continue Britain’s proud tradition of granting safe refuge to people fleeing oppression. And we’ll allow some law-abiding people here without the proper paperwork to earn their citizenship so we can target deportation efforts on criminals and people-traffickers.
3. Anonymous job application forms to end race discrimination.
It’s too easy for people from ethnic minorities to be cut out of the job application process right at the start
because their background is clear from the name on their CV or application form. Names should be blanked out so this discrimination can’t happen.
4. Scrap Control Orders.
It’s vital to convict terrorists rather than putting entire communities under suspicion. We will scrap Control Orders and replace them with measures designed to secure convictions of terror suspects. We also support efforts to
make it easier to charge suspects genuinely suspected of terrorism through a temporary lowering of the ‘threshold test’, the use of the post-charge questioning and intercept evidence.
LABOUR
Labour has failed to bring fairness to the ethnic minority communities they claim to
represent. They have taken ethnic minority voters for granted. Our society remains riddled
with prejudice and inequality and their shocking handling of the immigration system has
fostered the rise of the BNP. They have failed the very people they promised to help.
CONSERVATIVES
The Conservatives cannot be trusted to make Britain fair for people from ethnic minorities.
David Cameron says the party cares about racial equality, but their priorities are all wrong:
their top policy is still cutting taxes for millionaires. They want to relax rules for police stop
and search no matter how it affects ethnic minority communities. They would put a cap on
immigration that would mean even British people’s relatives wanting to visit could be
turned away if they apply at the wrong time of year. Britain would be even more divided
under the Conservatives.
KILLER FACTS
1. Someone with an ethnic minority name will apply for twice as many jobs as
someone without one before they are hired.
2. 75% of people on the DNA Database are young, black men. A million innocent
people are on the database
3. BAME people are twice as likely to be poor than their white counterparts.
4. Only 2% of MPs are non-white.
BASIC FACTS
1. 8% of the UK population is non-white.
2. The fastest growing ethnic minority group in the UK today is mixed race.
3. There are just 15 ethnic minority MPs.
If Parliament reflected the ethnic balance of Britain, there would be 66.
4. 4% of all police officers in the UK are minority ethnic
5. Nearly 40% of all medical and dental staff in the NHS are from ethnic minorities