High Peak Liberal Democrats
My core belief that we all have a right to be treated fairly without reference to colour, race, nationality or ethnicity is one of the reasons I have remained committed to the Liberal Party and the Liberal Democrats for over fifty years. The party's fundamental rejection of prejudice and discrimination is just as important now as it was when I joined the Brighton Young Liberals in the 1950s.Britain has a proud record in race and community relations, but at a time when we see the rise of the divisive politics of parties like UKIP, it has never been more important for the Liberal Democrats to stand up for equality and diversity.
Today the party has launched its BAME Manifesto. It spells out how we will continue to protect the rights and opportunities of Britain's ethnic minorities - the right to live in peace, to receive an education, to get a job, to raise a family free from fear, and, above all, the right to be treated fairly without reference to race, colour, national or ethnic origins.
Our culture and economy is stronger as a result of the diverse range of people who have chosen to make Britain their home. In government we've made huge progress in securing Britain's economic recovery and helping businesses to grow. Self-employment and the small business sector is especially important for BAME communities. In the past 12 months alone a third of all the new businesses set up through the Start-Up Loans initiative have been by Black and Minority Ethnic entrepreneurs. But there is still more to be done to help BAME entrepreneurs. So we will build on the Coalition's BME Access to Finance report to identify ways to encourage more BAME applicants to apply for finance and set up small businesses, and monitor and tackle the BAME pay gap. We will build on what we have already achieved in government by raising the tax free personal allowance to at least £12,500 by the end of the next Parliament, ensuring that many BAME workers who work part time or on low to middle incomes benefit from a further tax cut.
The economy is no longer national, it is global - but we rarely see the benefits of immigration being highlighted in the public debate. I am proud that Britain is an open, welcoming country which benefits from the skills of migrants, the investment from foreign businesses and the growth that results from the contributions made by migrants to our society. So we will complete the restoration of full entry and exit checks at our borders, in order to rebuild confidence in our immigration system. We will require working-age asylum seekers who have waited more than six months for their claim to be processes to seek work like other benefit claimants, and we will present to Parliament and annual assessment of skill and labour market shortfalls and surpluses and their impact on the economy. We want to protect migrants from constantly being the scapegoat by rebuilding trust in our migration controls.
We want to ensure that every child, no matter where they or born or the colour of their skin, has the same opportunity to reach their potential. We will invest every penny we can in education, increasing our Early Years Pupil Premium to £1,000 per pupil per year, supporting local authorities in providing Children's Centres, and ensuring that all universities work to widen participation across the higher education sector.
One of our proudest achievements in government has been to help more people than ever to start an apprenticeship, with 200,000 apprentices coming from a BAME background. We'll continue to target the work of the Apprenticeship Advisory Group to increase the number of apprentices from BAME backgrounds, and specifically to ensure the recruitment of ethnic minority apprentices into sectors where they have traditionally been under-represented.
It is matter of great personal disappointment to me that BAME individuals still experience discrimination in the criminal justice system. That is why I am proud that our manifesto commits us to challenge this by improving the safeguards in police stop and search powers in England and Wales. We will also boost police recruitment from Black and Minority Ethnic groups and conduct a full review of the causes of overrepresentation of BAME individuals in the criminal justice system.
There are many more policies in the BAME Manifesto which promote equal opportunities in our society and commit us to tackling discrimination wherever we see it. The fact we are the only Party to stipulate our commitment to outlaw caste discrimination is an illustration of that.
Equality and fairness are the cornerstones of what makes a democratic society. With our policies published today, we will be taking a pro-active approach towards combating racism and discrimination, tackling inequality in all aspects of our society and positively valuing the contribution of different cultures and perspectives, and treating them with respect.
A full copy of the manifesto can be accessed here.
* Lord Navnit Dholakia is a Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords and was President of the Liberal Democrats from 2001-2004.
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