Lib Dems adopt transformative racial justice plan

 

The Liberal Democrats yesterday adopted proposals to “tackle racial injustice now”, putting forward a series of measures to combat all forms of racism, “whether conscious or unconscious, individual or institutional”. Affirming that Black Lives Matter, the motion - accepted at the Party’s Autumn Conference - calls on the Government to tackle discrimination and inequality across the UK. It includes calls to end the Hostile Environment, abolish suspicionless stop and search, and require the police, prison service, judiciary and other public bodies to adopt ambitious targets for improving the diversity of their workforce.  Wider calls include facilitating a review of the national history curriculum with the aim of diversifying the syllabus, creating local citizens’ assemblies to consider how the past is memorialised in public spaces, and forming a commission to establish the scale and extent of human rights abuses committed by the British Empire. Speaking after the motion, Liberal Democrat Equalities spokesperson Wera Hobhouse said: “Racial justice cannot wait. The Black Lives Matter movement has demonstrated how important it is that we confront and tackle racism in all its forms, wherever we find it.  “The Conservatives’ own policies, like the creation of a Hostile Environment, serve to fan the flames of racism and need to be scrapped. We need to see a coherent Race Equality Strategy.  “One thing is abundantly clear: we must do much more to eradicate systemic racism in our society and our institutions, from our criminal justice system to our schools and universities. Radical action is needed right now to bring about change and build a more inclusive country.”