It's all white in the assembly
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Lib Dem leader Mike 'German' is about as ethnic as it gets in the Welsh assembly. David Davies is part Hungarian and Bryan Gibbons is an Irishman. Apart from that, Assembly Members are as white and British as they come.(Before Plaid-sympathising readers reach for the diatribe button, be aware: I'm talking census terms here.)
There are often calls to make the assembly more representative. It's already more than half female and attracting an increasing number of young candidates. But when it comes to ethnicity, it's all white.
And so, more or less, is Wales. In the 2001 census, 96% of Welsh people gave their ethnic origin as White British. That's 9% more than in England. Just 1.7% described themselves as members of an ethnic minority group, the largest being Asian/Asian British at 0.9%
But that still means the assembly isn't quite as colourful as it might be. If it were mathematically representative, we'd expect at least one and one fifth assembly member to be from an ethnic minority. Requiring just a teeny swing from the Tories to get a list seat in South Wales East, Plaid's Mohammad Asghar is the ethnic candidate most likely to get elected. If he were to win and then grow an extra leg he'd be perfect for the assembly's sense of balance (though perhaps not his own).
As far as I'm aware, however, there are no ethnic minority candidates contesting guaranteed or near guaranteed seats. It may well be that the assembly goes another four years with Brian Gibbons' brogue as the nearest thing to ethnic diversity. In today's Wales, is that good enough?
Labels: Brian Gibbons, census 2001, David Davies, ethnic candidates, ethnic diversity, Mike German, Mohammad Asghar, politics, Wales, Welsh Assembly Election 2007
posted by Blamerbell @ 10:17 am,
,
