BY Alison Bellamy
The British Asian vote could determine vital seats of power in the forthcoming local elections on May 5.
But family ties and traditional loyalty to voting Labour for its positive stance on immigration is long gone, as a fourth generation young people of Asian heritage take to the polls.
The tables are now turned it seems as it was around one million ethnic minority voters who voted Tory and helped put David Cameron into Number 10 at the 2015 general election. Politicians across all parties seem to be very much focused on the Asian vote, with canvassing for votes at mosques, temples, community centres and in areas of high Asian population, not uncommon. And with a greater sense of community, it seems that south Asian people relish having their say at the polls.
Race equality expert Simon Woolley, director at Operation Black Vote, which campaigns for greater racial justice and equality throughout the UK, said: “The British Asian vote will certainly determine who will win in some seats, especially in the north of England.
“In recent times we are seeing a significant change in attitude from young BAME people, especially in Asian communities. There is a new found belief that our vote can make a huge difference, and so it should, we have a voice, a strong voice.
“Political engagement is vital and whatever political colour we choose, we seek to tackle persistent racist inequality and Islamophobia.”
Recent surveys have found that many British Muslims feel more British than their white neighbours, and they probably are.
Way back in the 1950s and 60s, migrants from south Asian countries were seen as not having an ‘important’ voice as they were reduced to carrying out menial tasks for low wages, as they settled into a different country and way of life.
Politics expert Dr Andrew Mycock, senior lecturer in politics at the University of Huddersfield, who is also a co-convenor of the Politics Studies Association Britishness Specialist Group, says family ties and honour can often be behind loyalty voting and the reason why people of Asian heritage, particularly Bangladeshi and Pakistani, are keen to put a cross in the box.
Dr Mycock said: “Family ties and tribal ties are important in Asian-heritage communities. In a political sense these function in a similar way to the kind of class loyalties which influenced voting behaviour in previous decades in the UK.
“There has always been a positive and negative side to such ties. Asian-heritage communities appear more willing to engage in local politics, certainly more so than their white, working-class neighbours in some part of the country.
“Many have realised that politics is increasingly more relevant to their lives and that local politics matters as well as what is happening at Westminster.
“It is interesting that as people of Asian heritage increasingly integrate into life in the UK, we are now seeing generations growing up here whose civic confidence in growing as they feel part of British society. This is something which needs to be encouraged.”
“The most prominent change among Asian voters is the increase in growth of support for the Conservative Party, particularly by young British Muslims.
“As they integrate and adapt into society more are associating themselves with the Conservative view of politics and society. Traditionally, the Asian vote has been a reliable block vote for Labour, mainly because they lived in poorer communities and because Labour were seen as being more open to immigration.
“There has also been a marked change in young Asian people getting into politics, particularly young Asian heritage women. I can think of one of my former politics students, a young woman who is now a councillor, and I expect to see her become an MP.
“And like many young Asians, she sees the importance of politics as a career as well as an opinion.”
The voting turnout for last year’s general election was 66.1 per cent of the voting population.
Local elections only see around 35 to 38 per cent of those eligible to vote put their cross in the box. This means around six out of ten people don’t bother voting in a local government election.
As Britain goes to the polls on Thursday, May 5, we will see the biggest set of elections outside of a general election for some years.
They include the local elections in England; the police and crime commissioner elections; Mayor of London and London Assembly; plus the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh and Northern Ireland assemblies.
Recently, I sat with a group of professional women, all from Yorkshire except one politician who lives down south. We began to talk about politics, Bradford politics in particular. And then the topic turned to what has happened in Bradford West. It sounded like a film script as we discussed George Galloway’s reign and the drama that followed.
After all, the northern city has often hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons in recent years.
It came as a surprise to the only southerner among us, to hear that whole Asian families had been known to disown or cut off relatives for not voting a certain way.
“It is really happening here in 2016,” said one of the women, a prominent, successful Bradford businesswoman. “I know of many cases where some family members literally force their relatives to vote for a particular party. Even though it is private in the voting booth, they pester and make threats to ensure the vote goes the way they want and demand to know what they voted. And without getting into a huge row, or being forced to lie, it is just easier to go along with it.”
But with such loyalty, corruption can also follow.
Lutfur Rahman, the ex-Mayor of Tower Hamlets, was found guilty of corrupt and illegal practices at an Election Court in April 2015. He recently failed to overturn a five-year order banning him from running for office.
Last year the BBC Asian Network/ICM poll of 500 people who considered themselves Asian, also found that, of those who had decided, 39 per cent said they may change their minds before polling day.
Half of those questioned said they wanted tougher immigration controls.
The poll found that 24 per cent of respondents were still undecided about which party to vote for – in line with the population as a whole.
There has been much interest in the ‘Asian vote’ since the 2010 general election – when Labour secured 68 per cent of ethnic minority votes. The Conservatives, on the other hand, managed 16 per cent.
Binita Mehta, who is Conservative group leader for Watford, is just 25. She is a young Indian woman who is known for her outspoken views.
She wrote after last year’s general election: “We saw a record black and minority ethnic (BAME) voter turnout for the Conservatives and Sunder Katwala, director of British Future, summed it up saying that the Tories can be ‘increasingly confident of their appeal to aspirational ethnic minority voters’.
It’s something I have first-hand experience of.
“I grew up in an Indian Labour household. But as a teenager, I rebelled against my parents and supported the Tories.
“More than ever, young voters are far more empowered and informed, engaging with politics on social media. We have little tribal allegiance and a more consumerist attitude to politics, picking the party that suits us best at the time.
“Unlike our parents, most of us were born here – I was born and bred in Watford. We don’t really label ourselves as BAME, but British in our own right.
“This is our country, so we do not take well to ‘divide and conquer’ politics like Harriet Harman’s pink bus or when Ed Miliband mistakenly presumed a turbaned man he met during the election campaign was going to get “the Sikh vote out” for him.
“Things like that take their toll – no one wants their politics to be assumed based on the colour of their skin.
“Instead of being typecast, we ethnic minorities are fighting back and making our own individual choices on who to vote for.”
