The Labour party has become the first party to launch a separate manifesto for the British Asian Minority Ethnic communities (BAME), prior to the upcoming elections on 7 May. They have promised to set out a better plan to break down the barriers that people from BAME backgrounds still faces, including long-term youth unemployment. The party launched a BAME manifesto this week that starts from the basis that Britain only succeeds when all working people succeed, which is often not the case, especially for our BAME communities in Britain.
The manifesto states:
* Long-term unemployment for young people from an ethnic minority has increased by almost 50 per cent in the last five years.
* If you’re under 25 and black you’re twice as likely to be out of work.
* BAME communities are still over-represented in minimum wage jobs, and are more likely to earn less than the living wage, with half of the Bangladeshi community earning below the living wage.
The solutions it offers:
* Labour has a better plan to extend opportunity and tackle the discrimination that holds people back.
* Labour's Compulsory Jobs Guarantee will offer a paid starter job to every young person who’s been claiming Jobseekers Allowance for over a year, work they’d have to take or risk losing benefits. Labour's plan will give more than 3,200 young black and minority ethnic people who have been abandoned by David Cameron the chance to earn, learn and fulfil their potential.
* They plan to raise the National Minimum Wage to more than £8 an hour by October 2019 and ban exploitative zero hours contracts will help close the BAME pay gap
* They will introduce a cross-government race equality strategy to drive progress across every area of government.
Launching the BAME manifesto, Labour’s Shadow Justice Secretary Sadiq Khan, said: “The Tories are failing working people. Long-term youth unemployment among BAME young people has increased by almost 50 per cent in the last five years. And if you’re under 25 and black, you’re twice as likely to be out of work than the national average. The Tories are failing to tackle this acute problem and showing complacency towards Britain’s ethnic minority communities.
“We simply cannot afford another five years of wasted talent under the Tories. It is a huge waste of the next generation’s skills, potential and talent and it comes at a huge cost to young black and minority ethnic people, their families, taxpayers and the economy.
“Britain only succeeds when all working people succeed. That’s why Labour has a plan to build an economy that works for ethnic minority families and to tackle race inequality.”
