London's Changing Demographics

London Region Liberal Democrats held their annual Spring Conference in the salubrious surroundings of the East Wintergarden in Canary Wharf on Saturday 8 April.

At an afternoon session chaired by Vice-Chair, Merlene Emerson entitled "London's Changing Demographics - What is the Liberal Democrat Response", Tom Smithard, Head of Strategic Research at LibDem HQ shared with party attendees data showing how the ethnic minority profile had changed in the last 10 years. This taken with the polling data carried out by the Party at the end of last year was a wake-up call that the Party needs to do better in reaching out to ethnic minority voters.

Whereas 58% of the population in London had identified themselves as British White in the 2001 Census, this figure had dropped to 45% by the time of the 2011 Census. 1 in 3 Londoners were recorded as born outside of the UK in 2011, as compared to 1 in 4 in 2001. (The Chinese population has also increased significantly but the repositioning of "Chinese" tick box from "Any other ethnic group" to "Asian/Asian British" makes it difficult to compare 2001 and 2011 figures.)

Cllr Lester Holloway, a member of the London policy forum, expanded upon the strategies needed to win support from ethnic minority voters. These range from more effort in recruiting and utilising the skills of members from diverse communities, to devising policies that address their concerns.

The conference closed with a keynote address by the Party's deputy leader Simon Hughes MP. He suggested that all London party branches should consider selecting one woman and one BAME person in each three-member ward ahead of the 2014 local elections. This would mean that every time the party were successful in a ward they also increased the diversity of their council group.

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