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EXCLUSIVE
Chuka Umunna speaks about the importance of the diaspora vote
Chuka Umunna
At an exclusive interview Chuka Umunna speaks to Asian Voice about the upcoming EU Referendum and Labour policies Q:How decisive black and Asian voters could prove in this referendum? What are you doing to garner their votes? They determine the general elections. In 253 of the current 650 constituencies, the majority of the sitting members of Parliament is exceeded by the ethnic minority population in that constituency. So in around 1 in 3 seats, the ethnic minority vote is decisive and it will prove to be incredibly important in this referendum campaign. But, I should add, it will not be if our people don't turn out to vote. Q: Recently former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott had criticised Jeremy Corbyn for failing to push Labour's case in EU referendum. Prescott had said that Labour must set out more clearly where it stands on immigration. What's Labour's position on immigration? We have got a clear position on EU referendum. Labour leader Jeremy Corby is absolutely clear about it that from the point of view of Labour's values voting to stay In is the right thing to do. And that is why overwhelmingly a clear majority of our MPs want to stay In. In terms of immigration issue, I don't think anybody will deny that migration in 2016 and beyond is going to pose challenges. My argument is if we were to quit EU, those challenges will not go away. Yes, people have concerns about how migration can undercut people's wages in the labour market and that's why it's really
Labour fights back Brexit chances AsianVoiceNews
Asian Voice |18th June 2016
important that the government imposes minimum wage. But let's not forget the benefits that immigration brings – there are 100,000 EU citizens working in the NHS, 1.5 million British people are employed in businesses in the UK owned by EU citizens. Let's also not forget that when our parents and grandparents came here, the same arguments that have been made now against East Europeans were made against them. And so we shouldn't ignore the challenges that immigration can pose. Let us not allow Nigel Farage and others to create division and hate in our communities in an attempt to gain political gains. Q: Is it right to say Jeremy Corby is keeping a low key as far as EU referendum is concerned? No, I think it's impossible for Jeremy Corbyn to keep a low key. Wherever he goes, there is a TV camera in his face. He is campaigning hard to make sure we stay in the EU and he will be campaigning harder still in these final weeks of the campaign. Q: How is Labour planning to protect our borders? We manage our borders properly. The idea that when you arrive at a British airport, you simply go and pick up your bags when you get off the plane and then get out of the airport – is untrue. You have to go through the passport checks and to that extent we are able to manage migration now. Because we have the benefit of the single market and it is impossible with the way in which the EU is set out to have a free movement of goods and services as well as free movement of people, we make a judgement that the economic benefits that we get from the single market are way, what some say, would be the downside of migration. But the important thing is where you have an area that has the need for people to come to the community and to cope with whatever extra pressures is an issue for the domestic government, for the British government, not for the EU.
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benefit non-European immigrant communities is amongst the most outrageous. “The fact is, our communities’ legitimate concerns about the current immigration system lie at the door of the Tory Government, not the EU, and the consequences of leaving would hit minority communities hardest... “Britain’s ethnic minority communities are stronger, safer and better off in Europe.� The article has been signed off by Rushanara Ali: Bethnal Green and Bow, Shabana Mahmood: Birmingham Ladywood, Yasmin Qureshi: Bolton South East, Thangam, Debbonaire: Bristol West, Virendra Sharma: Ealing, Southall, Kate Osamor: Edmonton, Seem Malhotra: Feltham and Heston, Tulip Siddiq: Hampstead and Kilburn, Keith Vaz: Leicester East, Chi Onwurah: Newcastle upon Tyen Central, Chuka Umunna: Streatham, David Lammy: Tottenham, Valerie Vaz: Walsall South and Khalid Mahmood: Birmingham Perry Bar. BAME Conference Labour In for Britain held a BAME (British Black Asian and Minority Ethnic) press conference at the Labour Party Head Office on June 8, appealing the members of the nonwhite communities in the UK to turn out in large numbers on June 23 and vote for Britain to stay in the European Union. Kate Osamor MP, Alan Johnson MP, Seema Malhotra MP, Chuka Umunna MP and Rushanara Ali MP made a strong pitch for the Remain campaign, urging voters to make sure their voice is heard in the EU referendum on June 23. They said staying in the EU is economically best for British workers and businesses as also from the security point of view. It is vital Britain remains in the EU for jobs and prosperity from a long-term point of view, they added. Rushanara Ali accentuated on dangers of intolerance and far-right activity. She said Brexit campaigners are focussing on intolerance and anti-immigration sentiments, on fear, division – they need to be
Rushanara Ali MP, Alan Johnson MP, Kate Osamor MP, Seema Malhotra MP and Chuka Umunna MP at the Labour In press conference in London
countered. “Today we require cooperation and unity between member states to tackle the modern-day challenges, including security and terrorism. We need to stay in EU for peace and for protecting our rights, and Britain’s ethnic minorities know this better than any other group. Women know this because they have gained rights, maternity rights, paid maternity rights.�
people to come in to work in the particular industries where there is labour and skills shortage, they can do that but we don’t have to leave EU to address specific problems in specific industries.� 'Labour has a monumental responsibility' Mayor of London Sadiq Khan speaks during a Labour party 'Vote Remain' campaign event, at The Shard in London
Chancellor George Osborne at the BAPS Swaminarayan Temple, addressing the Hindu community on 14 June
“There are legitimate fears about immigration. But let us not allow the likes of Nigel Farage to define that debate. That is dangerous. Because Nigel Farage is no friend of Britain’s ethnic minority communities. “Let us not forget that we are the benefactors of an open society that allowed people in to make a contribution because none of us would be here if we didn’t have that, none of us would have the opportunities to be representatives in this Parliament if Britain was intolerant when our parents and forefathers came here in this country. So we cannot allow people to say that all immigration is bad. “The idea that the likes of Micheal Gove, Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage are going to allow people to come here is nonsense and frankly if the British government wanted to allow
Thursday June 9, 2016. He reportedly said Labour had a "monumental responsibility" to ensure it mobilised its supporters to vote in favour of continued EU membership. "The worry that we have is, for understandable reasons because a lot of the media attention has been on so-called 'blue on blue' attacks - Boris Johnson versus David Cameron, Michael Gove versus George Osborne - Labour voters have been turned off," he said. He said he was trying to "remind Labour voters and supporters" why it was "so important" for the UK to remain in the EU - and was calling on them to persuade friends and family to vote Remain. The Brown charisma Gordon Brown, who almost single handedly ensured Scotland remains within UK during the I n d e p e n d e n c e
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Referendum, has said Labour voters have the “most to gain� if Britain stays in the EU, taking a lead in the EU to create jobs, cut energy bills and tackle tax havens, during a speech at Leicester. But Boris Johnson, among his hair dye controversy, one of the leading Vote Leave campaigners, said the Remain camp was “rattled� with just 10 days to go until the referendum on the UK’s future in the EU. Brown said action on the environment, cutting energy bills, enhancing workers’ rights and social standards, and tackling tax havens were all best achieved by being inside the EU. He compared the Leave campaign to Donald Trump’s in America. He said in many countries globalisation was fuelling a desire to “bring control back home�. Alongside Brown, Shadow Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn has also invoked the memory of his late father Tony on Monday as he made an impassioned plea to Labour supporters to back the Remain campaign. European Council president and historian Donald Tusk has also warned that Brexit could threaten “Western political civilisation�. Leave camp surges ahead in polls Support for leaving the EU is gaining ground, with phone and online surveys reporting a six-point lead, according to a pair of Guardian/ICM polls. Leave now enjoys a 53%-47% advantage, according to research conducted over the weekend, compared with a 52%-48% split reported by ICM two weeks ago. The polls excluded respondents who answered “don’t know�. In an independent study by Asian Voice through a poll, 43.4% people said, they would want UK to stay within EU, as opposed to 33.84% who want to leave and 22.75% who are not decided. The result of the Referendum does not depend on any polls or predictions. It depends on the people who turn up to vote and Asian Voice would like to urge its readers to make sure that they go out and vote on 23 June 2016. Continued on page 7
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