Labour excluded some campaigners from race equality act launch event
Labour excluded some campaigners from race equality act launch event
Professor Patrick Vernon OBE said: “The Windrush Scandal was a grave injustice which destroyed lives and tore families apart. We have still seen too many people waiting for compensation for their suffering. “Today’s announcement of a Windrush Commissioner and reestablishing the Windrush Change Programme is an important step forward to make sure that victims receive the compensation they deserve and concrete steps are taken to ensure this injustice cannot happen again.”
Labour’s plans for a new race equality act were announced at a behind closed doors event that excluded equality campaigners who wanted to review the proposals, Sky News can reveal.
The party is pledging to be a government that would give stronger legal protections for equal pay for black, Asian, and minority ethnic workers.
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But ahead of today’s launch, stakeholders were emailed at 11pm last night to say the event was “postponed” after protests were due to take place at a venue they had originally chosen in north London.
Sky News understands there was a separate event for a smaller group.
Those who attended this private event said Sir Keir Starmer set out the plan with Baroness Doreen Lawrence, though were “quite agitated” by what they saw and one thought the Labour leader came across as “quite cold and horrible” – they described the atmosphere as “jingoistic” with “union jacks everywhere.”
Labour has released pictures of the event, and a video will be released tomorrow on their social media.
One of the images was shared on Sir Keir Starmer’s X account and shows him talking to Baroness Lawrence, the mother of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence.
Sir Keir said: “Labour’s Race Equality Act will extend full equal pay rights to Black, Asian, ethnic minority and disabled workers for the first time. Great to chat through our mission-driven plan today.”
Shadow equalities minister Anneliese Dodds told Sky News she genuinely believes the act will make a huge difference and “throughout this process we’ve engaged with dozens of experts, with businesses, with trade unions, with people with lived experiences and what we’ve found is generally people are very supportive of the changes we’re setting out”.
She also confirmed Sir Keir and herself have undergone unconscious bias training – and it was “useful to understand how sometimes different patterns of behaviour can become entrenched”.