labour in constituency race row labour s choice of a white candidate for one of the uk s most multiracial seats proves the need for allblack short lists says a race group local councillor lyn brown was selected for west ham east london in a contest between two white and five ethnic minority women an operation black vote spokesman said they now wanted to meet labour party chairman ian mccartney for discussions mr mccartney recently announced party consultation on allblack shortlists however labour has so far unable been unable to comment on the implications of the west ham result ashok vishwanathan of operation black vote which aims to increase ethnic minorities participation in the political process and their representation said the result again showed allwomen shortlists were not effective in getting minority women selected i think allblack shortlists are the only way to cut to the chase and address the lack of minority candidates mr vishwanathan said last month the chairman of the commission for racial equality cre also called for ethnic minority shortlists in certain circumstances a cre spokesman said the organisation had nothing to add on the shortlist issue specifically but would be working with all the political parties to address the underrepresentation of ethnic minorities in parliament we will be raising it with each of the party leaders on a formal basis and helping them find the most appropriate way forward the spokesman said ethnic minorities make up 8 of the united kingdom population but only 2 of mps 13 out of 659 are from a visible minority group twelve of them represent labour and one is a liberal democrat if ethnic minorities were represented in the house of commons in proportion to their numbers in the population there would be 42 ethnic minority mps