Lib Dem leader Farron to conduct review into barriers facing ethnic minority communities

Liberal Democrats leader Tim Farron has announced an independent review on barriers faced by members of ethnic minority communities in the party as he spoke out against the divisive rhetoric by politicians during and after the June referendum.

In a speech at the Runnymede Trust on Monday (24), Farron, who spoke on the theme of patriotism, said: “The Liberal Democrats will be conducting an independent review which focuses on the issues and barriers faced by BAME members in the party - with work commencing immediately this week.

The party’s president, Sal Brinton, has been integral to getting this process started, and I am pleased to say that Lord John Alderdice from our Alliance sister party in Northern Ireland has agreed to carry out this review.”

Lord Alderdice had recently visited Canada, where he undertook a review in the Yukon on relationships between the Canadian and regional governments and their BAME and indigenous communities and expects to report back next year, Faroon added.

The Lib Dem leader also said the party proposed an “education charter” that would include learning about more about black and ethnic minority historical figures.

It will help “empower children of communities who don’t see enough historical achievement from people who look like them, giving them the inspiration to strive themselves,” Farron said.

He spoke out against the rise in hate crime after the June referendum vote, saying he fears that the Britain he “knows and loves has been stolen” from him.

Stressing that the outcome of the referendum result “was not a green light to xenophobia”, Farron said now was the time “to pull together not apart” as he recalled what the late Batley and Spen MP, Jo Cox, said - that we have “more in common than that which divides us”.

Cox was murdered in her constituency days before Britain voted to leave the EU.

Farron said: “We’re a country founded on over 2,000 years of immigration, each wave bringing new influences and culture, enriching British life”, adding “the rise in racist and xenophobic attacks following the referendum fills me with shame. Those attacks are heartbreaking.”

Earlier this month, official statistics from the Home Office showed that racially and religiously aggravated abuse incidents in the UK registered a 41 per cent jump in July, a month after the Brexit vote.

As many as 5,468 race hate crimes were registered in July this year, compared to 3,886 in July, 2015, according to figures released by the Home Office.

Overall, in 2015-2016, there were 62,518 offences recorded by the police in which one or more hate crime strands were deemed to be a motivating factor - an increase of 19 per cent compared with the

52,465 hate crimes recorded in 2014/15.