Today's blog post is written by Vastiana Belfon, a research associate at Runnymede

Researching the Runnymede archives for our new website “The Struggle for Racial Equality – An Oral History of the Runnymede Trust, 1968-1988” showed just how much has changed and, equally important, how much history will repeat itself – unless we take steps to make radical changes.

The language of race has certainly changed - witness recent media coverage of the use of the word 'coloured'. There's still a sense of unease when you read in 1969 of 'immigrant schoolchildren' with IQs that 'work out below their English contemporaries'. In 1971, Conservative MP Gerald Nabarro, addressed the Malvern Conservative Ladies' Tea Club, saying, 'We have enough black men in this country. I call a chair a chair. I mean black men, not immigrants. I don't mind Australians and South Africans or any other white immigrants, but I do object to more impoverished black men, Indians and Pakistanis, coming in.' It is unimaginable that today an MP would confidently say such things in public without fear of recrimination.

In our schools, black parents in the 1970s expressed their concerns about their children being labelled as 'educationally subnormal' or 'remedial'. By 1985, the Swann Report on Multiracial Education was arguing that the problem facing the education system was not how to educate ethnic minority children, but how to educate all children for life in a multiracial and multicultural society. Today, parental worries might focus on exclusions, bullying or school choice.

Today's blog post is written by our public affairs intern Ashley Burton-Lynch

Labour MP Karen Buck has warned that the 2011 census could fail to adequately count the population, adding that she fears the mistakes made in compiling the 2001 census will be repeated. Buck, making the comments in a House of Commons debate, added that in the 2001 census “the under-counting of the population was almost entirely among … poorer communities, (and) black and minority ethnic communities”. The Labour MP drew attention to the fact that the failure to capture an accurate picture of the population at a local area level affected the delivery of services as grant allocations relied on this data.

Buck went on to state that in order for the 2011 census to avoid the outcome of under-funding to under-counted areas, the Government needs to make a firmer commitment to the census then it is currently showing. These sentiments were echoed by fellow Labour MP Fiona Mactaggart who criticized the Government for being “pretty stupid” in refusing to undertake a national marketing campaign on the issue.

The government responded to the comments by saying that there will be a “four times greater effort in London and some other areas (by field staff)” to collect outstanding questionnaires than in 2001.

Today's blog post is written by our public affairs intern Ashley Burton-Lynch

Labour peer Lord Falconer has slammed government plans to change constituency boundaries due to the fact this will exclude the 3.5 million people currently not on the electoral register because of out of date data. He added that many of those excluded from the register would be Black and minority ethnic (BME) people. Lord Falconer made the comments during the House of Lords’ second reading of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill, where the government has proposed that constituencies across the UK should be of an equal population size and be reduced by 50 seats.  

Lord Falconer went on to argue that the changes would create constituencies which “carve(d) up communities” and did not reflect local needs. This, according to Lord Falconer, was supported by the Constitution Committee which stated in its report on the Bill that holding a public consultation on the issue would have highlighted whether the electorate actually thought equalisation of constituencies should be prioritised over other considerations.

Labour peer Baroness Healy elaborated on these concerns by adding that “if these missing millions are ignored in the redrawing of boundaries, it will have a distorting effect on the electoral map and unforeseen social consequences whereby government bodies do not recognise the true nature of the communities they should be supporting” – for example concerning the allocation of funds per head.

Today's blog post is written by Runnymede's public affairs intern Gordon Nelson

Elizabeth Musa is set to make history if elected to the Welsh Assembly next year. As reported on the Operation Black Vote blog, Musa has been selected to stand as the South Cardiff and Penarth candidate for Plaid Cymru in next year’s Assembly elections. If elected, Musa would become the first woman from a minority ethnic background to sit on the Assembly.

Musa is currently a careworker and community activist who has campaigned for many social justice issues. She also spearheaded the creation of the OBV MP shadowing scheme which aims to nurture future leaders, and encourage and inspire BME communities to engage in civil society.  

Today's post was written by Runnymede's public affairs intern Gordon Nelson

The Parliamentary Press Gallery has announced the launch of a new diversity scheme to address the lack of ethnic diversity among reporters in the press gallery. In particular, the scheme intends to give black and minority ethnic (BME) journalists the opportunity to participate in political reporting, as well as to help them network with MPs and prospective employers. The scheme is open to any BME reporter working for a news outlet that is not already represented in the gallery.

Under the scheme, reporters become a member of the gallery for three months and are given a desk and security clearance. They are required to file stories for their media organizations on a wide range of local and political issues.

For those of you interested, the closing date is 3 September. You can find out more information here.

Today’s blog post is written by Runnymede’s public affairs intern Farrah Sheikh

In equality oral questions yesterday in the House of Commons, the equalities minister Lynne Featherstone was quizzed by MPs about ways to increase recruitment to the civil service from black and minority ethnic communities. In response, Lynne Featherstone reiterated the government’s commitment to create more internships for people from BME backgrounds within the civil service and added that the civil service is gradually becoming more diverse following a drive to target BME people.

Elsewhere, newly elected Conservative MP Nicky Morgan received an answer to a written question on government policy on helping people from BME backgrounds gain senior positions in both the public and private sectors. In reply, Lynne Featherstone outlined the coalition government’s commitments to promoting equality and opportunity for all under represented communities. In addition to internships, she added that the government will provide mentoring and funding for entrepreneurial BME people who want to start a new business.

Today's post was written by Runnymede's public affairs intern Farrah Sheikh

The BBC has reported that a referendum for the Alternative Vote (AV) system is to be held on 5 May next year - the same day as the local elections.

Whilst this announcement will be music to many Lib Dem ears, the proposal is set to face serious Tory opposition, with one of Prime Minister Cameron’s election pledges being to vote “no” in any AV referendum. However, this is also one of the key agreements of the coalition government, putting Cameron in a tricky position. Currently, all three Labour frontrunner candidates are in favour of the alternative vote. Labour support is likely to prove vital in pushing the bill through the House of Commons.

But what does this mean for race equality? As some readers may remember, our senior policy researcher, Dr. Omar Khan recently wrote an article for Left Foot Forward, arguing that proportional representation or the alternative vote system alone would not increase BME representation within the UK parliament. He adds that other measures should be introduced alongside any change in the voting system in order to improve representation. You can read Omar's article here.  

Home Secretary and Equalities Minister Theresa May was quizzed last week on how the government can increase representation of ethnic minorities and women. Responding to a question from new Labour MP Emma Reynolds in last week’s equality oral questions, May acknowledged that constitutional reform alone will not increase representation and added that the “first responsibility” for increasing diversity in parliament lies with political parties.

Later pressed by Lib Dem Jo Swinson on whether she would take up recommendations made in the recent Speaker’s Conference – such as a democracy diversity fund – May said that the government is currently considering the recommendations, and added that it has made an early commitment to introduce extra support for disabled people who want to become MPs, councilors or other elected representatives. Some of you will remember that the Speaker’s Conference – which took place before the election – focused on increasing diversity in Westminster. Full information is available here.

Dr Omar Khan, Runnymede's senior policy researcher, posted an article on the well respected Left Foot Forward blog this weekend on the impact of PR on BME representation. In the article he concludes that the electoral system has a limited effect on the proportion of under-represented groups, that AV in particular is unlikely to have much effect, and other measures – including internal political party policies – are more likely to increase BME representation in Parliament. You can read the full post on Left Foot Forward.

Further to my post below, I thought readers would also be interested to learn the overall proportion of BME MPs in parliament and in each party.

• Con - 11/306: 3.6%
• Labour - 16/258: 6.2%
• Lib Dem - 0/57: 0%
• House of Commons - 27/649:  4.2%

This is an improvement on the last parliament, but still falls short of the proportion of ethnic minority people living in the UK (7.9%)

Last week’s election saw the largest ever number of BME MPs elected to parliament, with the number rising from 14 to 27.

Whilst high profile candidates such as Conservatives Shaun Bailey and Willfred Emmanuel Jones were narrowly beaten, others such as Labour’s Rushanara Ali and Chuka Ummuna, and the Conservatives’ Priti Patel and Helen Grant, made it to Westminster.

Labour’s David Lammy and the Conservatives' Adam Afriyie were returned to parliament, although Dawn Butler lost her seat to Lib Dem Sarah Teather.

Just a quick post to draw attention to the Operation Black Vote rally which took place in Westminster last night. The event – called “Black Britain Decides” –  was attended by around 2500 BME voters and focused on a number of issues including representation and the DNA database.

In what looks to be the largest political rally of the campaign, high-profile representatives of all the major parties took part including Harriet Harman, George Osborne and Vince Cable. OBV have frequently pointed out that marginal seats across the country could easily be swung by ethnic minority votes, including Finchley and Golders Green, Solihull, Battersea, Crawley, Harlow, Bradford West, Ealing North, Birmingham Yardley and Hove.

A write up on the event is available on the Guardian and I’m sure further info will be available on the OBV blog later in the day.

Following Gordon Brown’s post on the Operation Black Vote blog yesterday, Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg has followed suit with a post on his party’s policies for BME communities.

Arguing that the Lib Dems will ensure that the statute book protects BME communities, Clegg states that his party will uphold the Human Rights Act and support the EHRC.

Highlighting the over-representation of black men in the criminal justice system, he argues that the Lib Dems will make stop and search intelligence led and will remove innocent people from the DNA database. He also labels CLG’s PREVENT programme as one which “alienates” Muslim communities.

Gordon Brown has today written a post for the Operation Black Vote blog on Labour’s policies for BME communities.

In the post, Brown defends Labour’s record on fighting racial prejudice, particularly highlighting the party’s introduction of a duty for all public bodies to tackle racial discrimination, the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006, this year’s Equality Act and the establishment of the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

On the rise of the far-right, Brown states that Labour is working closely with faith communities, trade unions and community organisers to defeat the BNP.

This week Anne Begg MP introduced a parliamentary debate on the Speaker’s Conference on parliamentary representation. Some of you may remember that the Speaker’s Conference recommended in its January report that more must be done to encourage local political activism and to prevent discrimination against potential parliamentary candidates who do not fit the traditional mould.

In this week’s debate, Begg – who is also Chair of the Equalities All Party Parliamentary Group – argued that diversity in parliament is “fundamental to our democracy” and a “matter of justice”.