Up to a million ethnic minority, especially Indian votes have helped put David Cameron back into Downing Street- the highest share Tory party has ever enjoyed from an electoral group, which it failed to connect with in the past.
The British Future poll suggests around 49% of the Hindu votes went to the Conservative Party while 41% of Hindu votes went to Labour. The carefully planned Conservative strategy to target Hindu and Sikh voters helped them to sweep into power. His frequent visits to Indian temples and Sikh Gurdwaras and promises of giving the country its first PM of Asian origin in the near future reaped rich results. He also promised that if he returns as PM, he would pay a visit to the Akshardham temple in Delhi and said that Britain needs to take inspiration from Hinduism if it wants to become better. Samantha Cameron with her collection of beautiful saris, salwar kameezes and impeccable dressing, have added a feather to her husband's cap.
Moreover PM's regular Vaisakhi, Eid and Diwali parties at his residence, have had wide range of attendees from the community, all across the nation- which has inevitably helped to spread his popularity amongst the community. The Conservative press team has also made sure to keep the communication alive with the BME media, something that the Labour party increasingly failed to achieve in the last election.
Sunder Katwala, director of British Future, said: “This research shows that ethnic minority votes are more ‘up for grabs’ than ever before. Minority voters still prefer Labour to the Conservatives. But where Labour once held on to these voters when they became more affluent, through an appeal to fairness and solidarity, that may now have broken down.
“If it presents itself only as a party of the underdog, Labour may send a message to aspirational ethnic minority voters that, if you get on in British society, you ‘trade up’ to the Tories – just as C2s did for Margaret Thatcher.”
With approximately one in 10 voters are non-white, the House of Commons too has now started to open up to a diverse reality. A record number of ethnic minority MPs have been elected to the House of Commons post the May 2015 general election - 41 non-white MPs compared to 27 in 2010.
Kenney plan playing a role?
James Kirkup in The Daily Telegraph analysed how David Cameron could have won a higher vote amongst the minority, than before. “David Cameron's Conservatives took the Kenney plan to heart,” he writes. Jason Kenney was the Canadian immigration Minister and his plan to win over the non-white voters were outlined in a seminar last year at London's Policy Exchange, a think tank that still often serves as an idea lab for British Conservatives. Broadly Kenney plan had two steps: First 'talk about values': Conservatives have long emphasised how their values are similar to Asian values and the second was 'engagement'. The only way to win their trust and understanding was to talk to them regularly and often!
However according to the survey Labour still remains ahead with minority voters on 52%. Though what is remarkable is that the gap is shrinking between the two main parties. 33% of 3 million non white voters this year have opted for the Conservatives- a significant swing, from predicted 24% before election. Traditionally the Tories have lost the game hands down to labour party, but now evidence suggests that the table is turning. Still it is an election that the Conservatives have failed to win amongst the ethnic minority community as a whole. There is work to bedone and much to be decided. A bigger poll by Ipsos Mori gives the Tories only a 23% of ethnic minority vote against 65% for Labour.
The bigger question that remains: will this Kenney Plan make Britain a natural home for non-white voters? There may be cultural, socio economic limits to its use. David Goodhart, a writer on immigration pointed out that Canada is more relaxed about immigration. David Cameron and Home Secretary Theresa May's latest stand on immigration has left a bitter taste in the mouth of those, who have created jobs for Britons.
Indians second largest job creators in Britain
According to latest data released by London and Partners on Tuesday showed that Indians have become the second biggest job creators in London in 2015. Indian companies have already created 504 new jobs this year in London alone - second only to the Americans who created 1983 jobs, the Times of India reported. China which is investing heavily in UK created only 277 jobs so far this year.
The number of jobs being created by Indian companies for Londoners has been increasing with every passing year. In 2012, India created 404 jobs in London followed by 429 in 2013 and 438 in 2014. A record 270 companies, creating nearly 5,000 jobs, have set up or grown significantly in 2014, according to the Mayor's business and promotional company.
As far as new companies are concerned, 28 new Indian companies set up shop in London in 2015 - four higher than the Chinese and second only to America. Global giants like Pfizer, Greenland Group and Tata Elxsi have all expanded or created new headquarters in London. A decade ago just 26 tech companies came to London but last financial year there were a record 108.
Factors affecting Britain's minority
Canada's minorities are better educated and often more professionally successful than their white counterparts. The same is partly true in Britain. Census data showed that 43% of Chinese origin and 42% Indians have a degree compared to 26% of white British.
Research from centre of Dynamics of Ethnicity in Manchester suggests non-white Britons are significantly less likely than their white counterparts to move into a higher socio-economic class than their fathers.
Mr Cameron's promise of a 'blue collar Conservatism' is often appealing to white men, but if it is to mean anything to non whites, it has to be more fair representation in universities and then in professions. Sajid Javid and Priti Patel are treated as ideals, their journeys as exceptional, but Conservatives need to work for a day when such journeys will be nothing remarkable, it will be common and the story of many Asians in high posts.
Some analysts found that politics is very different for different ethnicities. Integration and clustering among ethnic minorities have greater impacts. Britons who live in areas dominated people of he same ethnicities tend to be poorer than average and much likely to vote for Labour.
Identity matters too. Non white people are just as patriotic, but are much likely to identify themselves as “British” than “English”. That could be a problem for Conservative party as they often flirt with English nationalism as they try to capitalise on English anxieties over Scottish National Party (SNP).
Whatever be the correct strategy, Britain's demography is changing very fast. Another Policy Exchange report suggested that the ethnic minority population could rise from around 15% in 2015 to 30% in 2050. The policy was written by Rishi Sunak, now a Conservative MP and then a fund manager turned to a think tanker. He is also the son in law of Indian tycoon N R Narayana Murthy CBE, the founder of Infosys, a Bangalore based IT Company.
Courtesy: Highcharts.com
