Unit 4: Political issues by Dr Claire Annesley The Lecturer in European Politics at the GIPP, School of Social Sciences at the University of Manchester writes for BBC Parliament

The British state has intervened to protect its multi-cultural society

The United Kingdom has a long history as a multi-national and a multi-cultural state.

It became culturally more diverse in the post war period following immigration from the New Commonwealth.

Yet, despite the traditional and contemporary diversity within the UK, it is not an equal society and the issue of racism and discrimination are increasingly important political issues.

ALSO IN THIS SECTION: Unit 4 - UK Political Issues The Economy The Welfare State Law and Order Northern Ireland Reading list

Issues of race and ethnicity are not party political. Mason (2000, 124) argues that the British Parliamentary system is dominated by two major parties which "have not always seen it as vital to their interests to cater to minority ethnic constituents."

What is more, he argues that the Conservatives and Labour Parties have both been willing to play the "race card". However, some differences between the Conservative and Labour Party attitudes towards race and ethnicity became evident from the 1980s onwards.

The Conservative Party has traditionally promoted 'One Nation' conservatism in the UK.

This refers to its aim of structuring a nation around a "unified and unitary British national culture" (Mason, 2000, 128). During the 1980s the Conservatives sought to reinvigorate this kind of British nationalism and ethnic minority groups who were encouraged to adopt 'British' over 'ethnic' identities.

A 1983 Conservative Party election campaign poster carried a picture of a Black person with the slogan "Labour says he's black, we say he's British" (cited in Mason, 2000, 128).

The Conservatives ridiculed the more multi-identity and multi-cultural approach of the Labour Party in the 1980s as the 'loony left'.

Mainstream

In the 1990s the neglected issues of racism and racial discrimination moved into the political mainstream.

Concern grew both about the levels of poverty and unemployment among ethnic minorities and about the ways ethnic minority groups were treated by public institutions such as the criminal justice service and the police.

The murder of the young black man Steven Lawrence in April 1993 and the alleged neglect on the part of the police to investigate the case seriously as a racially motivated crime led to a wide scale debate about the treatment of ethnic minority citizens by law and order officials.

The Macpherson Inquiry, which was set up to investigate the accusations made of the police concerning Stephen Lawrence's murder, reported evidence of significant 'institutional racism' in the police force.

Institutional racism was defined as: "The collective failure of an organization to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture or ethnic origin. It can be seen or detected in processes, attitudes and behaviours which amount to discrimination though unwitting prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness and racist stereotyping which disadvantage minority ethnic people." (Macpherson, 1999, para 6.43, cited in Mason, 2000).

Following publication of the Macpherson report, the Labour Home Secretary Jack Straw set out an Action Plan to combat racism in the police and society in general and this set out to implement some, though not all, of the Macpherson recommendations.

Asylum

However, in the 1990s, just as the treatment of ethnic minority British citizens was being taken more seriously, a new issue arose concerning the treatment of non-British citizens, such as asylum seekers.

The Conservatives and the Labour Party have competed to appear tough on what are often - and wrongly - referred to as 'bogus' asylum seekers.

These are asylum seekers who are allegedly not fleeing persecution but who are trying to enter Britain in order to improve their economic status.

In 1999 the Immigration and Asylum Act removed the right of new asylum seekers entering the UK to claim state or local government benefits. Instead, a new national body, the National Asylum Support Service (NASS), was set up to administer claims for social support from destitute asylum seekers.

The most controversial development was that asylum seekers were allowed just only ten pounds per week in cash benefits and the rest of their weekly benefit was provided in the form of food vouchers which could be exchanged at designated stores.

This scheme was widely criticise for being discriminatory and administratively cumbersome and was eventually scrapped in April 2002.

The issues of race and ethnicity are being taken more seriously by both main political parties. Particularly since Macpherson there are new commitments to improving race relations and the representation of ethnic minorities in public and political institutions.

However, as the 2001 race riots is the northern towns of Oldham, Burnley and Bradford and the issue of asylum illustrate, UK there are many outstanding political issues in this policy field.

� Dr Claire Annesley 2004
Department of Government
University of Manchester
email: [email protected]