Ahead of a visit to the Black Cultural Archives in Brixton’s Windrush Square to mark Black History Month, Leader of the Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn MP has accused the government of planning a “clearly discriminatory” and “blatant” attempt to suppress BAME, older and poorer voters through proposals to make photo ID such as driving licences or passports at the ballot box before voting.

Out of over 44 million votes cast in 2017, there was only one conviction resulting from 28 allegations of in-person voter fraud. By contrast, 3.5 million citizens do not have access to any photo ID, with 11 million citizens lacking a passport or driving license.

The Labour Leader will visit the Black Cultural Archives – the only national heritage centre dedicated to collecting, preserving and celebrating the histories of African and Caribbean people in the UK – alongside Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities Dawn Butler MP to discuss Labour’s plans to improve the teaching of Black British history and the history of the British Empire and support a new Emancipation Educational Trust to educate future generations about slavery and the struggle for emancipation.

In government, Labour will also:

Introduce an equal pay audit to close the race pay gap

Launch an inquiry into recruitment discrimination and consider initiatives such as name-blind recruitment

Implement the Parker Review recommendations to increase ethnic diversity on the boards of Britain’s largest companies

Abolish unfair unemployment tribunal fees and create statutory time-off for equality representatives in the workplace to give people the means to enforce their rights at work and make sure that the Equalities Act is implemented

On Black History Month, Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn said:

“Black history is British history, and it must not be limited to one month each year.

“I would like to pay tribute to the Black Cultural Archives for the work that they do preserving, celebrating and educating people about the history of people of African and Caribbean descent in Britain.

“It is vital that we build on the successes of Black History Month and develop a more inclusive understanding of our shared history. That is why the next Labour government will ensure that future generations understand the role that Black Britons have played in our country’s history, as well as the legacy of the British Empire, colonisation, slavery and the struggle for emancipation”.

Ahead of his visit to the Black Cultural Archives to mark Black History month, Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn said:

“These plans are clearly discriminatory and a blatant attempt by the Tories to suppress voters, deny people their democratic rights and rig the result of the next General Election.

“The people that the Tories are trying to stop voting will be disproportionately from ethnic minority backgrounds, and they will disproportionately be working class voters of all ethnicities.

“We will not allow the Tories to shut down our democracy and shut ethnic minority voters out of our democracy by making it harder for people to vote.

“Rather than suppress voters, Labour will ensure that people from ethnic minority backgrounds are at the heart of our democracy. That is why we have launched our Race and Faith Consultation to engage with the communities who experience racial inequality every day as we develop our programme for government.”

Ends

Notes to editors

London stands to gain enormously from Labour’s transformative plan to rebuild Britain