The Labour Party Annual Conference 2023
SME4Labour, Pakistanis for Labour, Black Labour and Kurds4Labour fringe: Bringing BAME Communities Together to Win for Labour
🗓 Date: Wednesday, 11 October 2023
⏳ Time: 8:00
📍Location: SME4Labour POD (Meeting Room 22), ACC Liverpool, Kings Dock Street, Liverpool, England, L3 4FP
SME4Labour, Pakistanis for Labour, Black Labour, and Kurds4Labour fringed: ‘Bringing BAME Communities Together to Win for Labour’ with Yasmin Qureshi MP, Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities; Shahid Nadeem, Pakistanis for Labour; Cllr Tauseef Anwar, Speaker & Civic Mayor of Lewisham Council. This panel discussion was chaired by Cllr Shabina Qayyum, Peterborough City Council.
The event focused on the empowerment of BAME or ethnic minority communities with engagement with the Labour Party, and in the hope for political change and electoral success. Shadow Minister Yasmin Qureshi stated that despite her parliamentary seat being known as a safe Labour Party seat, that party activism was still important and that no parliamentary seat is really safe. She adds that nominees for parliament and councils need to attend various community events in order to reach out to people, particularly in seats are that marginal.
The event highlighted reaching out to such communities as many of them did not participate in politics, despite being fairly present in the food industry, such as local and takeaway restaurants. The attendance of religious places of worship was also a highlighted importance as many BAME community members have a religious connection.
Socio-economic issues such as job insecurity and lack of decent homes were also issues highlighted among BAME communities in the session. Local community activism was also encouraged to demonstrate the power of the grassroots, something that the Labour Party has pride in representing. The importance of volunteer mobilization was expressed for securing marginal parliamentary seats that can effectively determine who governs the country. This could particularly be relevant in the near future as polls suggest that the Labour Party could be returning to power in the near future.
