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‘People don’t think things will change’: Wayne Hoban

Parties urged: get more BME candidates

With less than three months left before the local government elections, political commentators are concerned that the results of the polls will not reflect the diversity of boroughs, particularly in inner city London areas.

All 177 local authorities in England will hold local elections on May 4 and the Electoral Commission does not expect the turnout to be above the average of 30 per cent.

DISCONNECTION

The Commission has put the expected low turnout down to a disconnection with the political process, particularly at the local level where potential voters don’t understand the purpose of the elections.

Commentators have argued that that an inability by the main political parties to select BME candidates in areas with a high BME population is largely responsible for the apathy of many in the black community feel about getting involved at the local government level.

Wayne Hoban, Lib Dem councillor in Haringey, said that overcoming an apathetic population was difficult.

“If people think that regardless of what they do nothing will change, that is when you get low turnouts. Haringey in particular has such a long culture of being Labour – such that people don’t think things will change.”

Donatus Anyanwu, a Labour councillor in the ethnically diverse south London borough of Lambeth, said the BME population was not to blame, however.

“It’s about the parties putting the time and energy and making it worthwhile for BMEs to be involved and have their voices heard.’

He continued, “If the council are not giving black members the respect they deserve, and not making them officers, we say it’s institutional racism.

“The council and the political parties are the problem. It’s not black people. We want to get involved as far as we can make a difference. But I don’t think Lambeth has given people like myself the opportunity to make a difference.”

There are just five BME councillors out of 64 in Lambeth. Anyanwu said that changing the ethnic composition of local government would encourage others to get involved.

“There has not been a single black face in the [Lambeth] council executive over the past four years. When you see a black face on the television, you look. When you see a black face in the council, you will listen.

“You come to the council but everyone who speaks is a white male and you begin to feel ‘do I belong here? Why should I get involved?’

“Representation must be visible, and accountable so that people see you are doing something for them, and you look and talk like them. That is where the council has got it wrong. They make us feel that we don’t matter.”

BLAME

Simon Woolley of Operation Black Vote also laid the blame at the door of the parties.

“Whether by design or default, the political parties pay scant regard to representative democracy,” said Woolley.

“It will only change when the leadership of the three political parties radically change and accept that they have little legitimacy to govern without BME representation.”

However Lib Dem councillor Columba Blango, who described his Southwark borough as generally reflective of its population, said that too many people simply did not understand local government.

“The vast majority of them do not really understand in broad terms how local authorities operate,” he said.

“They understand specific issues but unfortunately the majority of black people give their allegiance to politicians based on what that politician has done for them, for example helping them with immigration, or housing issues. Black people say they will vote for Labour ‘because it is Labour who gave me my papers to stay’. However I always say, irrespective of the party, it is the MP’s job to represent you on any issue.”

Published: 28 February 2006
Issue: 1207

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