A shadow minister has warned Labour it cannot just be Black female MPs who fight racism, during a debate on Stephen Lawrence this afternoon.
Sarah Jones, who is Labour's policing minister, highlighted the lack of white or male MPs from her party who had attended a debate on the Metropolitan Police's investigation into the murder of Stephen Lawrence.
“It is no coincidence that my colleagues from the Labour benches who are speaking here today are majority women who happen to be Black," she said.
"It shouldn’t be on their shoulders to fix these problems because they have experienced racism all through their lives and now we’re expecting them to fix the problems as well and that is not right… it should be on all of us. We all need to take that responsibility, especially those of us who haven’t had to bear that burden of racism themselves.”
It comes as Sharon Grant, the widow of Bernie Grant, one of the country's first Black British MP, this week warned the Labour party needed to do more to progress Black politicians rising through the party. Meanwhile female Labour MPs and Black MPs have criticised the party for choosing four white male candidates to stand for the party in upcoming by-elections.
Martin Forde KC, who produced a report on racism in the Labour Party last year, has said there has been "slow progress" in implementing his recommendations. In May, a leaked letter signed by a group of Black Labour MPs to Keir Starmer said they were “losing faith in the ability and commitment of this leadership” to address issues raised in the critical report on the party’s culture.
The debate on the murder of Stephen, who was killed by racist thugs in 1993, comes after his mum Baroness Lawrence this week wrote to the Home Secretary to say she is "profoundly concerned" about the "slow pace of reforms" in the Met Police.
A sixth suspect in Stephen's murder case was named last month - the now deceased Matthew White - after the BBC detailed a series of police failings in handling information linked to him. It also emerged last week that four officers accused of misconduct in the murder probe will not face criminal charges.
During the debate, Labour MP Janet Daby said the new revelations added "insult to injury", as she said investigations into the officers "should all be reopened and looked at because of the corrupt situation we now know has taken place” .
Labour MP Marsha de Cordova said: “What we are witnessing now is a cancer that is deep rooted in the Metropolitan police and it seems to be alive and kicking.”
She said the Met "needs to be dismantled once and for all" and that we also need an independent inquiry into the recent news. “The Met Commissioner now must also be held to account for these actions. It can not go on any longer that justice is not served for the Lawrence family,” she added.
Labour MP Dawn Butler opened by saying she “found it difficult to sleep last night” thinking about this debate. She said the murder of Stephen was “brutal” and that she remembers at the time being “sickened at that thought - that a teenager that was just like me and my siblings, very similar background, had been murdered whilst he was waiting for a bus... If he wasn’t safe, none of us were.”
She said “justice delayed is justice denied” as she spoke about the Lawrence family still having to fight for it today. Ms Butler called for an independent person from outside the Met “that won’t be afraid of threats” coming from officers who “want to keep the status quo”, adding that former Met Commissioner Cressida Dick “was not a good commissioner” and that current Commissioner Mark Rowley is “slowly losing my confidence”.
Ms Jones, who is the Labour MP for Croydon Central, added: “The Met, we know, has really struggled and needs to be reformed but these problems exist across the country. We’ve got six forces in special measures across the country right now and the question is what is the Home Secretary and the Home Office gong to do to raise standards and reform policing.
"Does the minister accept the disproportionality within the system that exists and the structural issues that mean racism, misogyny, sexism, homophobia just continue and aren’t changed and will she back the calls from everyone here that we need to change the way we vet and train and deal with misconduct when it comes to policing.”
Home Office minister Sarah Dines said: “Though we have seen progress in the Met in a number of areas since the awful murder of Stephen, there is much to do. It is imperative that the Met, working with key partners including HMICFRS (His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services), continue the process to restore the public’s confidence that they are getting the high quality of service that they desire and that we all have a right to expect.”
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