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July 12, 2024 • Twitter.com/easterneye
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PRIME MINISTER Sir Keir
Starmer will oversee a parlia-
ment more ethnically diverse
and more female than ever af-
ter securing a landslide victory
in the general election last
Thursday (4).
Black, Asian and ethnic mi-
nority MPs represent around
13 per cent of the Commons,
up from 10 per cent after the
2019 elections. It is the largest-
ever share of ethnic minority
members of the lower house,
according to an analysis by the
thinktank British Future.
In the 44 years since outgo-
ing prime minister Rishi Sunak
was born, minority representa-
tion in Britain’s parliament in-
creased from zero to nearly
one in seven MPs, British Fu-
ture said.
But the share still does not
fully reflect the diversity of the
population and electorate.
Around 18 per cent of people in
England and Wales come from
a black, Asian, mixed or ethnic
minority background, accord-
ing to official data.
“The 2024 election is a land-
mark for representation, with
record diversity in our parlia-
ment, closer than ever to that
of the electorate,” Sunder Kat-
wala, director of British Future,
said. “The irony that it coin-
cides with the end of Rishi Su-
nak’s premiership as the UK’s
first British Asian prime minis-
ter, and only underlines how
ethnic diversity has become a
new norm across the main po-
litical parties.”
The new parliament includes
a record 242 female MPs, 22
more than after the 2019 polls.
When Labour’s Diane Ab-
bott, Britain’s first black female
MP, entered parliament in 1987
there were just 41 women in
the Commons.
Abbott, who was re-elected
to the seat in northeast London
which she has held for 37 years,
will become ‘mother of the Ho-
use’ – an honorary title for the
longest-serving female minister.
Labour won 412 seats, get-
ting a majority of 174, and it
will have by far the largest
number of ethnic minority MPs
– 66 out of the 87 elected. But
that diversity hasn’t been re-
flected in its top cabinet.
Foreign secretary David
Lammy, justice minister Sha-
bana Mahmood and Lisa Nan-
dy, secretary of state for cul-
ture, media and sport are
among ethnic minority minis-
ters named in Sir Keir’s top
team. Thangam Debonnaire,
who had been expected to join
the top team, lost her seat.
The Conservative party had a
stronger record for diversity
when it came to ministerial-
level representation.
Addressing the nation out-
side 10 Downing Street last Fri-
day (5) in his final speech as
prime ministers, Sunak said:
“One of the most remarkable
things about Britain is just how
unremarkable it is that two
generations after my grandpar-
ents came here with little, I
could become prime minister.”
Sunak was the country’s first
British Asian leader and all
three female prime ministers
were Conservatives. However,
Labour’s Rachel Reeves is Brit-
ain’s first female chancellor.
Parliament breaks diversity record
‘Changing Britain will take a while’
Continued from page 1
Sir Keir said his government would “cre-
ate wealth in every community”.
Listing other long-term targets, the La-
bour leader added that he would get, “our
NHS back on its feet, facing the future.
Secure borders. Safer streets. Everyone
treated with dignity and respect at work.
The opportunity of clean British power.
Cutting your energy bills for good.
“And, brick by brick, we will rebuild the
infrastructure of opportunity. The world
class schools and colleges, the affordable
homes that I know are the ingredients of
hope for working people, the security that
working-class families like mine could
build their lives around.
“Because if I asked you now whether
you believe Britain will be better for your
children, I know too many of you would
say no. And so my government will fight,
every day, until you believe again.”
But he sought to temper high expec-
tations of an immediate transformation.
“Changing a country is not like flicking a
switch. The world is now a more volatile
place. This will take a while.
“But have no doubt that the work of
change begins immediately.”
Last Saturday (6), Sir Keir began his
first full day in charge, declaring the To-
ries’ plan to deport migrants to Rwanda
“dead and buried” and pledging growth as
his government’s “number one mission”.
He said he was “restless for change”
and his party had received a “mandate to
do politics differently”.
“The Rwanda scheme was dead and
buried before it started. I’m not prepared
to continue with gimmicks that don’t act
as a deterrent,” he said.
Sir Keir wasted little time in naming his
cabinet, with Rachel Reeves becoming the
UK’s first female chancellor, appointed
David Lammy as foreign secretary and
Yvette Cooper as home secretary.
Among the other notable appointments
are John Healey, secretary of state for de-
fence; Shabana Mahmood, lord chancel-
lor and secretary of state for justice; Wes
Streeting, secretary of state for health and
social care; Bridget Phillipson, secretary
of state for education; Ed Miliband, secre-
tary of state for energy security and net
zero; Liz Kendall, secretary of state for
work and pensions; Jonathan Reynolds,
secretary of state for business and trade;
and Lisa Nandy, secretary of state for cul-
ture, media and sport.
Reeves on Monday (8) said her team
had begun the task of unblocking infra-
structure projects and private investment
as part of a new “national mission” to
drive economic growth.
“We know we can’t turn things around
overnight. We face a dire inheritance. But
this is our down-payment,” said Reeves.
She pledged to tackle a long-standing
shortage of new homes and speed up
planning approval for infrastructure
projects, including more wind farms,
adding: “There is no time to waste.”
Reeves revealed that Labour will create
a new taskforce “to accelerate stalled
housing sites in our country”.
She promised her government would
build 1.5 million homes over the next five
years, as part of Labour’s election manifesto.
The government has already started
work on its housing pledges by giving the
go-ahead to build 14,000 new homes in
Liverpool Central Docks, Worcester,
Northstowe and Langley Sutton Coldfield.
Angela Rayner, the deputy prime min-
ister and secretary of state for levelling up,
housing and communities, is reconsider-
ing planning appeals for data centres in
Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire.
Unresolved infrastructure projects will
also be prioritised, Reeves added.
She also made a pitch to investors who
cooled on the UK after the 2016 Brexit
vote triggered years of political turmoil.
“After 14 years, Britain has a stable gov-
ernment – a government that respects
business, wants to partner with business
and is open for business,” the former Bank
of England economist said at her Treas-
ury department. “In an uncertain world,
Britain is a place to do business.”
Reeves said she had ordered a report
on the state of the country’s “spending
inheritance” and would present the results
before parliament’s summer break, be-
fore holding a full tax-and-spend budget
later in the year.
Reeves and Starmer face one of the
toughest to-do lists of any incoming gov-
ernment. They need to drive growth to
help finance spending on public services
without breaking a pledge not to raise the
main taxes paid by working people.
They have little room for manoeuvre –
living standards have stagnated since
2010, public debt is at almost 100 per cent
of national economic output and tax as a
share of GDP is on track to rise to the
highest level since just after the Second
World War.
Britain’s economy has been the second
weakest in the G7 since the Covid pan-
demic after Germany’s, although France
and Japan have fared only slightly better.
British economic growth this year is set to
be below one per cent.
Starmer said he would work on an im-
proved agreement with the European Un-
ion on post-Brexit trading rules and re-
vamp the “botched deal” signed by for-
mer premier Boris Johnson.
Speaking in Belfast on Monday after
talks with the leaders of Northern Ireland
– where post-Brexit trade rules have dom-
inated politics for years – Sir Keir said his
new government would first need to im-
plement changes under the current ag-
reement to build trust with the EU.
“We think we can get a better deal than
the botched deal Boris Johnson brought
home and we will work on that,” he said.
“We’re not going to be able to get a
better relationship unless we’ve demon-
strated commitment to the relationship
and the agreements that have already
been put in place,” he added.
Labour has ruled out re-joining the EU
single market or customs union, but has
said it is possible to remove some trade
barriers with the 27-nation bloc, which
Britain left in 2020.
Despite a landslide victory, Labour suf-
fered election setbacks in areas with large
Muslim populations amid discontent
over its position on the war in Gaza.
The party, which has long counted on
the backing of Muslim and other minority
groups, saw its vote fall on average by 10
points in seats where more than 10 per
cent of the population identify as Muslim.
Jonathan Ashworth, who had been ex-
pected to serve in government, lost his
seat to independent Shockat Adam, one
of at least four pro-Gaza candidates to
win. Several other Labour candidates
came close to losing.
Pro-Gaza independents also won in
Blackburn, and Dewsbury & Batley, bea-
ting Labour into second in both. In addi-
tion, Labour lost Islington North, where
its former leader, veteran left-winger and
pro-Palestinian activist Jeremy Corbyn,
won as an independent.
While Labour has said it wants the
fighting in Gaza to stop, it has also backed
Israel’s right to defend itself, angering
some among the 3.9 million Muslims who
are 6.5 per cent of Britain’s population.
Lammy commented on the issue in his
first official visit as foreign secretary, to
Berlin last Saturday, saying: “I want to get
back to a balanced position on Israel and
Gaza. We’ve been very clear that we want
to see a ceasefire. We want to see those
hostages out.
“The fighting has to stop, the aid has
got to get in, and I will use all diplomatic
efforts to ensure we get to that ceasefire.”
Lammy also said Britain would seek to
reset its position globally on issues in-
cluding the climate crisis as well as key
relationships, such as with European and
emerging powers.
“Let us put the Brexit years behind us
... there’s much that we can do together,”
he said, pointing to a previously floated
idea of a UK-EU security pact.
SIR KEIR APPOINTS TOP TEAM AND ENDS RWANDA PLAN AS NEW MINISTERS REVEAL POLICIES
Shabana
Mahmood
Rachel
Reeves
Lisa
Nandy
Shockat
Adam
David
Lammy
REBUILDING BELIEF: Sir Keir Starmer (centre) with Labour MPs after
the party won a landslide majority in last week’s general election
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