My Speech at the Stand Up to Racism Conference

I am a Black Working-Class women from Liverpool and I’ve been fighting racial and social injustice all of my adult life.  I am very proud and privileged to have made history when elected as the first Black MP for Liverpool in 2019.  

Comrades I’m a very proud Scouser: Liverpool is a unique city with a unique history - we’ve been fighting fascists on our streets for over 100 years.  The 1919 race riots erupted after demobilisation following the First World War, and Black/diverse workers were accused of taking jobs from white workers.  Not a lot has changed in the subsequent 104 years. 

We are a City of Sanctuary for many fleeing conflict and persecution, and have a very proud history of chasing fascists and the far right  off our streets, those who have endeavoured to divide our city and on one occasion ending up locked in left luggage cupboard at Lime Street station. 

Cruella Braverman’s hateful and divisive policies have received a decisive blow this week , with her departure as Home Secretary and the Supreme Court ruling that her dangerous Rwanda scheme is illegal. 

She has attacked the most vulnerable with rants about ‘hurricanes’ and ‘invasion’ of asylum seekers, to homelessness as a ‘lifestyle choice’; her accusations of ‘failed multiculturalism.’ have pushed the Tories further to the far right, whipping up hatred and conspiracies and empowering the fascist fringes of British society,  giving them a mainstream legitimacy.  

But comrades we know the Right are trying to regroup and rebuild, emboldened by this racist rhetoric of the Tories, with far-right gangs storming the Cenotaph on Armistice Day – wearing both poppies and swastikas – the damage has already been done. 

James Cleverly, the new Home Secretary, has continued that rhetoric, blaming refugees for the crisis in the NHS, and housing, when we all know it’s 13 years of failed neo-liberal policies that’s brought the country to its knees. 

But despite the defeat at the Supreme Court, the Prime Minister has pledged to introduce emergency legislation to ‘end the merry go round’ and stop their Rwanda plans from being blocked. Cleverly has added that he is absolutely determined to get a flight off the ground ‘as quickly as possible.’ 

We have a government that refuses to recognise institutional racism, and with a looming general election we’re likely to see yet more racist policies as this government limps towards the finish line. 

Hope not Hate recorded a 102% increase in anti-migrant far-right activity last year. In Liverpool, their presence on our streets has become all too familiar – from the violent demonstration outside a hotel accommodating asylum seekers in Knowsley back in February, to the neo-Nazi Patriotic Alternative protests outside Liverpool City Council in September. Our community came together to mobilise against them, and will continue to force them off our streets, but they remain a very real threat. 

After 13 years of Tory austerity cuts, massive inequalities and plummeting living standards, frustration and desperation is building in this country. To maintain their power and divert the blame the Tories are doing what they do best, blaming the most vulnerable and marginalised for decades of economic degradation and decay, setting  working class communities against each other. Black people, trans people, asylum seekers and refugees are facing the brunt of vicious Tory attacks on human rights, supported by their draconian legislation. 

The late, great, Tony Benn once said that we should watch how a government treats its refugees, because it shows how it would treat British citizens if it could get away with it.  His words today remain as relevant as ever. 

The numbers of people fleeing the climate emergency, famine, conflict and persecution will grow in the coming years: we need to do everything we can to provide support, rooted in solidarity, compassion and dignity. 

As a socialist MP I am committed to holding this government to account along with my own party.  I’ve voted against draconian legislation, challenged the highly discredited Sewell report and have questioned how Labour responded to the Forde report, the implementation of its recommendations and how it is tackling and challenging the hierarchy of racism. 

As Labour heads towards government we need an improved immigration system, based on compassion and dignity, a plan for clearing the backlog of immigration cases, establishing safe routes, and providing the support for a dignified and safe life here. 

As a party we have to reclaim anti-racism, because for too long the right-wing liberal media and political elite have weaponised anti-racism into a politics of division, setting groups against each other in a vicious downwards spiral. We talk about the need to combat anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, with the need to fight all other forms of racism often tagged on as an afterthought – racism is racism, the result of colonialism and white supremacy, it’s all bad. 

Our movement needs to move again towards the ideas that underpinned the original struggles against racism in Britain: a politics of solidarity is the only way we will win against the powerful wars being waged against our communities. We must renew our collective fight against all racism. Our safety and liberation lies in solidarity and our fight against structural and violent racism –  from the state to the street – must be united. 

To quote Thomas Sankara: ‘When the people stand up, imperialism trembles’. 

Comrades, now is the time to stand up against the pernicious Right: we have seen sustained protests by hundreds of thousands of people across the country in response to climate change, the death of George Floyd, Palestine, in support of refugees and asylum seekers, and against crackdowns on civil liberties.  

We need to make sure these mobilisations become an organised movement, one capable of building power and reversing the tide. We’ve done it before and we can do it again: the failure to do so is unimaginable.  We need to educate, agitate and organise. 

I’ll conclude with a quote from civil rights activist Angela Davis who said “in a racist society, it is not enough to be non-racist, we must be anti-racist”. 

Solidarity, comrades, let’s all be united in making change happen.