Is there an equal ethnic representation in the UK?
The issue of equal representation of ethnic diversity in the UK keeps coming back time and gain, diverse ethnic talents with a strong percentage within the millennial keep complaining that they are poorly represented in companies, government departments and the private sectors.
The recent assertions by David Lammy that “Political parties should look seriously at introducing a BME shortlist” to overcome the lack of BME members despite the fact that UK ethnic population is currently 16% and set to hit 22% by the 2020.
If you compare the BME candidates to the percentages of the population you will see a big discrepancy and a challenge looming for the 3 political parties with a serious possibility of new political groups with a relevant ethnic agenda to reclaim the gap left by mainstream politics:
Labour MP’s Conservative MP’s Liberal Democrat MP
16 11 0
BME population
20% 8.6% 11.4%
Of all the parties the Conservative party seems to find it difficult attracting BME audiences as they are seen to be White, male and insensitive to diverse issues and concerns despite the fact that the Conservatives have much in common in terms of their values and entrepreneurial spirit with that of BME population.
Javed Husain director of specialist Multicultural agency Mediareach Advertising said that, Political parties have not made much progress for the past decade due to inadequate advice and could do better with proper more insightful advice to help them adopt strategies that will encourage more BME following and membership going forward.
