Bedford mayoral candidates speak out on institutional racism

Bedford’s mayoral candidates all said they accepted that institutional racism is an issue, and they set out their plans to address it.

Bedford’s African and Caribbean communities were given the opportunity to share their concerns with the borough’s mayoral candidates at a hustings held at The Miracle Church of God in Christ (Thursday, April 27).

A member of the audience asked the candidates if they accepted the Macpherson definition of institutional racism. He added if not, why not, and if so, what are they going to do to address the “disproportionality in terms of educational outcome, health, employment, and criminalization”.

Labour’s candidate Saqhib Ali was the first candidate asked to answer.

“I do believe that many of our institutions are institutionally racist, and this needs to be tackled,” he said.

“We have to work with our different partners; so in health working with the NHS, with police working with our police crime commissioner, with education working with our schools and services.

“But that doesn’t just end there, as the reports have called out, it’s misogamy, it’s racism, it’s homophobia, etc, etc. There are many forms of intolerance in this society,” he added.

Adrian Spurrell, Green Party, said: “Absolutely yes and I understand and accept what Macpherson was saying.

“We have to start collecting the data so that we can show where the systems aren’t working within the borough. Somebody at cabinet level has to take accountability for those and actually then put forward plans and proposals to deal with it.

“I can’t give you a stock answer because I don’t know where the worst places are in the borough, but I’m sure that they will exist and they do need to be identified and addressed,” he said.

Tom Wootton, Conservative Party, said yes, he did accept the definition.

“So, what do you do about it?” he asked.

“Well in my world, a Conservative world, you promote people that are really good at the job. You don’t look at what they are, you look at how good they are at the job.

“I believe that’s how you deal with these sorts of issues,” he said.

“You have a diverse bunch of councillors, which is what I have, and you put them in winnable seats, which I think we have. And that’s up to you lot to help us out with that small matter.

“By putting the x in the right box we will have those councillors and they will be doing that job,” he said.

LibDem Dave Hodgson, the current mayor, said: “Absolutely yes, without doubt. I’ve been knocking on doors for many decades now, and I’ve been stopped by the police once to ask what I’m doing.

“Guess who I was knocking on doors with? Councillor Patrick Solomon. He said it was a regular occurrence to be stopped and asked what he was doing.

“And the conversations I had with him and with other people have shown how much of it is actually in our society and organisations.

“We have data from the council about how we make sure we interview the right people and give people the opportunity to work for the council.

“But that needs to be across all organisations, the public sector and the private sector as well,” he said.

The Heritage Party’s candidate, Alberto Thomas, also agreed to the definition.

“I think where it needs to begin, it needs to begin in the schools and we need to educate everybody from the bottom upwards that everybody is equal and colour should not ever come into it,” he said.

“We need to identify those that work in these institutions and are causing issues, and they need to be removed,” he said.