Dr. Mohsin Khan's July Chair Update

Mohsin's July Chair Update

It's been a really busy month in LDCRE.

We've continued to work on making a case for the Rooney Rule - this is a rule change that would ensure at least one Black Asian and Minority Ethnic minority individual is shortlisted on any given PPC shortlist. Exec members, led by Chris Annous, have fed into discussions with the Party on the legalities of this and are now preparing our responses back to this. We will also be holding events to raise awareness of the Rooney Rule - watch this space.

On the back of our open meeting with Munira Wilson MP, we had a further event for members and supporters with Daisy Cooper MP. Members heard about her work in Parliament as MP, Education Spokesperson, and also Deputy Leader of the Parliamentary Party. We covered a wide range of topics - including education, future policy responses to Covid, the Rooney Rule, and more! We are arranging our next MP speaker event - details out soon!

We've also continued lobbying Parliamentarians and attending regular diversity committees with Parliamentarians. We've been working on banning conversion therapy with Parliamentarians. We've also pushed on ethnic minority pay gap reporting and employer diversity reporting and there will be key actions from our MPs on this - we will update you all on this in our next newsletter.

LDCRE also had several campaigning days in the Chesham and Amersham by-election, including one organized by our Comms officer Chris Annous, going out to Chesham's most diverse areas to campaign and getting a really positive response on the doorstep. We also congratulate Sarah Green MP on her election, and look forward to working further with her in her Parliamentary work.

LDCRE are now working on how we can ensure the Party sustainably helps local and regional parties with campaigning to BAME individuals and communities. This is crucial if we are to build on our liberal, diverse party roots, to ensure our campaigns and policies are responsive and inclusive, and to build our electoral gains. We are submitting a business motion around this to Autumn Conference.

We held an Abolish BAME think-in event - you can read more about this here. We will holding further events on a range of topics going forwards - watch this space. James has also spoken out on the crucial need for everyone to be involved in the fight for race equality at all levels. Read his piece here.

As always, do get in touch if you want to volunteer or get involved in policy, comms, or campaigning, or if you have ideas for policy or campaigning work.