Labour members met in parliament this week to discuss how to mobilise the black vote

BLACK Labour members are still waiting for their leaders to implement a set of recommendations that would tackle anti-black racism within the party, a councillor warned this week.

Bunhill councillor Valerie Bossman-Quarshie was in parliament this week to chair a meeting of black Labour members and politicians discussing how to mobilise the black vote in advance of the next election.

“We discussed that ‘Black, Asian and minority ethnic’ people are not a homogenous group – they all have differences within their communities. How do we level up if we are lumped into one group of people fighting for funding and resources?” Cllr Bossman-Quarshie told the Tribune.

She founded the Campaign Against Afriphobia (CAA) over the summer in response to the publication of the Forde Report, which found evidence of a “hierarchy of racism” at work within the Labour party, with anti-black racism allegedly being treated less seriously than other forms of racism.

An inquiry, headed by Martin Forde QC, now KC, was commissioned by the party to investigate the contents of a 2020 leaked internal report. His findings were published in July this year citing factionalism.

Cllr Bossman-Quarshie said her party had since come a long way in tackling the problems identified in the report, issuing an apology to its black members and introducing a new independent complaints process.

She said she has been told by party bosses that those responsible for racist behaviour identified in the Forde Report have either been sacked or apologised. But she says there is still more work to do. “Going back to the Forde Report and its recommendations, what is the party going to do?” she asked.

CAA is currently in its “next phase”, Ms Bossman-Quarshie said, which involves “working within the party to look at the recommendations of the Forde Report. It can’t be a thing done in vain. I want the recommendations to be brought in.”

The report suggested Labour should revise its code of conduct and appoint a senior shadow cabinet minister to take responsibility for a culture change within the party, as well as establish diversity training and collect data on members with protected characteristics, among many others.

The party is currently inviting “different stakeholders to discuss the report and their experiences”, Cllr Bossman-Quarshie said, but added she would like to see the party go further.

“We talk about the red wall but we also need to remember the brown bricks in the wall that look like us and speak like us,” she said.

“We don’t want to work against the party, we just want to come to an amicable agreement about which recommendations should be implemented – there’s over 100 recommendations, and I want to see them all [brought in].”

Cllr Bossman-Quarshie warned that the party will find it more difficult to mobilise so-called BAME members if it fails to implement the recommendations. “You can’t have people that are feeling, because of the colour of their skin, that they are being disenfranchised, or made to feel disengaged. It’s so disheartening, because our political home is Labour,” she said.

In an apology statement on its website, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: “As leader of the Labour Party, I want to reiterate that apology to those affected for the culture and attitudes expressed by senior staff in the leaked report. This was unacceptable and they deserve an apology. I know an apology alone is not enough and that is why, working with the General Secretary, we have taken steps to change the culture of the party. This work is underway.

“The Forde Report provides concrete recommendations to help us achieve that, and I want to work with all those affected to drive this work through our party and ensure this never happens again.”