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Ethnic shortlists are not necessary and would be a depressing step backwards, argues Fabian general secretary Sunder Katwala.
"The search for a 'British Obama' would be set back by positive discrimination proposals being considered by the government to increase the number of black and Asian MPs," Fabian General Secretary Sunder Katwala argues in an article in the New Statesman.
Labour's Deputy Leader Harriet Harman has commissioned a report on how all black shortlists would work from pressure group Operation Black Vote. While Keith Vaz MP has introduced a Parliamentary Bill to allow positive discrimination by political parties, currently illegal under race equality laws.
Supporters say the measures are needed to 'open the door' to British Obamas.
But Katwala says this misses the point of Obama's rise: "Obama has insisted on a generational shift: breaking the 'black politician' mould to become a viable Presidential candidate, not defined by race. By contrast, all minority shortlists risk ghettoising Britain's next generation of non-white politicians," writes Katwala.
"Ethnic faces for ethnic voters is a retreat to 'ethnic ghetto politics', says Katwala. All minority shortlists are likely to be used in the 20 or 30 seats with most black and Asian voters. Katwala says this would be 'a depressing step backwards' when MPs like Ashok Kumar in Middlesborough and Parmjit Dhanda in Gloucester represent largely white electorates.
"Future Dhandas and Kumars fear being packed off to Leicester or Ealing and told to wait for one of "their seats" to come up. Many fear that minority only contests would focus on their ethnicity – and which community's "turn" it is to win a seat – not the candidate's qualities."
Read the full article in the latest issue of the New Statesman .
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