London Mayoral and GLA Elections Manifesto (2016)

MEND manifesto Mayor of London and London Assembly elections 2016 /mendcommunity | www.mend.org.uk 2 Contents Introduction 3 Background 12 Islamophobia 16 Employment 26 Health 32 Housing 36 Education 41 Transport 47 Crime, Security and Counter-Terrorism 50 Arts and Culture 64 London Mayor & GLA Manifesto 2016 Introduction 3 The election of the Mayor of London and 25 members of the Greater London Assembly on Thursday 5 May presents a renewed opportunity for Londoners of all backgrounds to engage with the governing institutions for the capital and the regional elected representatives who hold the Mayor to account. London is home to almost 40% of the UK’s Muslim population making the 2016 election of the Mayor and London’s demographic profile makes London Assembly Members of acute the 2016 elections acutely pertinent importance to Muslim residents in the to minority communities. Not least capital. Housing, health, education, because London’s diversity and its employment, crime and security and success as a capital city thrives the cost of living in the capital, these on its intercultural, interreligious, are all issues that affect London’s and inter-ethnic character. As diverse communities and Muslim the UK’s most ethnically diverse communities in particular given their faith group, Muslim Londoners concentration in the capital. fully embrace the capital’s vibrant multicultural landscape. But the London’s Black and Minority Ethnic character of London as a successful, population grew between 2001 and multicultural city belies many of 2011 from 25.3% to 40.2%. Muslims the problems facing the capital’s form 12.4% of London’s population minority communities from lower with the population growing by 67% life expectancy and poor health between the two census periods, 2001 to overcrowded housing and a to 2011. The rate of growth is high lower relative ratio of educational compared to the growth in London’s attainment to employment. total population growth in the period (14%) but low compared to other On some of the issues that matter to conurbations in the UK with large all Londoners - housing, education, Muslim population density and which employment and health – Muslims saw increases between 72 to 111 suffer inequalities across the percent in the same period. board. Whereas 53% of Londoners aged 16-24 from White British The 2016 In 2015, 26.6% of all students in backgrounds are in employment, just elections in London compulsory education in secondary 33% of BME Londoners in the same schools were from BME backgrounds, category are in employment. are an opportunity to well above the overall BME population elect officials who will size in the 2011 Census (14.1%). As a capital city, London is under Primary school pupils in London from particular threat from international commit themselves a BME background made up 71.7% of terrorism as we have seen in recent to alleviating the the total school population in 2015. At months in Paris and Brussels. For Muslim Londoners, the threat from sustained inequalities secondary level, they made up 68.6%. This is in contrast to the overall London international terrorism intersects with facing minority groups overall BME population of 40.2%. domestic terrorism as Muslims face and to delivering a a ‘spike’ in reprisal attacks resulting from ‘trigger events’. Islamophobic better quality of life to Muslims make up 2 in 5 of the local population in two London Boroughs, hate crime in the capital rose all Londoners whatever Tower Hamlets (45.6%) and Newham eightfold in the weeks following the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby in May their racial, religious or (40.1%) and 1 in 5 in Boroughs such as Brent, Enfield, Redbridge and Waltham 2013 and threefold after the Paris ethnic background. Forest. attacks in November 2015. 4 www.mend.org.uk According to the Home Office report on Hate Crime in England and Wales in 2014/15, 42.4% of all religious hate crime recorded in the UK occurred in London. In the same period, London accounted for 28% of all police recorded hate crime motivated by racial or religious hostility. For Muslim residents in the capital, strategies to tackle Islamophobia are of paramount importance. These are fundamental issues that require considered policy interventions from housing policy and education services to crime, policing and counter-terrorism. This manifesto has been developed to encourage British Muslim participation in the London mayoral and London Assembly elections by making policy initiatives and their impact more accessible to Muslim voters. The 2016 elections in London are an opportunity to elect officials who will commit themselves to alleviating the sustained inequalities facing minority groups and to delivering a better quality of life to all Londoners whatever their racial, religious or ethnic background. London Mayor & GLA Manifesto 2016 5 6 www.mend.org.uk Executive Summary The election of the Mayor of London and 25 members of the Greater London Assembly on Thursday 5 May presents a renewed opportunity for Londoners of all backgrounds to engage with the governing institution for the capital and the elected representatives who hold the Mayor to account. London is home to almost 40% of the UK’s Muslim population making the 2016 election of the Mayor and Assembly Members of acute importance to Muslim residents in the capital. Housing, health, education, employment, crime and security and the cost of living in the capital, these are all issues that affect London’s diverse communities, and Muslim communities in particular given their concentration in the capital. According to the Home Office report on Hate Crime in England and alesW in 2014/15, 42.4% of all religious hate crime recorded in the UK occurred in London. In the same period, London accounted for 28% of all police recorded hate crime motivated by racial or religious hostility. For Muslim residents in the capital, strategies to tackle Islamophobia are of paramount importance. The significance of London as a capital city and the enhanced security threat it faces presents chal- lenges to efforts by the Mayor of London and the Metropolitan Police Service to protect residents while promoting social cohesion, social justice and human rights. The key issues covered here can be summarised as racial and religious equality, transparency, ac- countability, crime reduction and civil liberties. The main points are: • Data collection on anti-Muslim hate crime is inadequate and fails to reflect the true scale of Islamophobic hate crime occurring in the UK. • The introduction in April 2016 of a new recording process which will see Islamophobia recorded as a separate category of crime provides a further opportunity for the MPS to address hate crime reporting systems and accurate data collection on Islamophobia. • Recording anti-Muslim hate crime relies upon proper training of police officers to correctly identify the bias motivation and to consider the victim’s perception of the perpetrator’s hostility. The introduction of the new recording system must be coupled with better training for officers. • Third party reporting centres play a vital role in marginalised communities who may struggle to report hate crime incidents directly at their local police station. Our assessment of third party reporting centres in England and Wales shows that provisions for Muslim communities is far from satisfactory. Working with Muslim communities across the capital to improve provisions for hate crime reporting must be a priority in the Mayor of London’s hate crime strategy. • The announcement by the Prime Minister of new funding to be made available for security measures at “faith establishments” is welcome and local Muslim communities in the capital must be supported in funding applications to secure premises such as local mosques and Muslim schools from Islamophobic attacks. • The far right continues to present a major threat to Muslim communities with convictions for murder, assault and arson serving as a reminder of the criminal actions of individuals motivated by anti-Muslim hostility. Low level intimidation that accompanies on-street protests by far right groups in towns and cities across the country and the drain on police budgets of policing protests is a further area that needs attention by the Mayor of London and the GLA. • Despite suggested recommendations on the use of stop and search powers and the threat of statutory legislation to limit its use in a bid to improve stop-to-arrest ratios and curtail disproportionate use against ethnic minorities, stop and search continues to show evidence of ‘institutional racism’. Muslim communities continue to face disproportionate use of terrorism London Mayor & GLA Manifesto 2016 7 stop and search powers, Section 43 (TACT 2000) and Schedule 7 stops and search. The impact on community policing of the excesses which fall foul of the ‘Best use of stop and search scheme’ will need careful attention to enforce compliance and to tackle ‘unconscious bias’. • The Vision 2020 strategy, which supports BME communities in employment, education, ap- prenticeships and recruitment to the police force sets ambitious targets for increasing diversity in police recruitment. Small steps have been taken by some forces to open up recruitment to BME applicants with recorded improvements in the MPS, but figures show that the police force remains predominantly White. Achieving the targets in the Vision 2020 strategy will require greater drive to increase recruitment and considered attention on retention and progres- sion if BME communities are to be better represented at all ranks. • Consultative forums in the form of Independent Advisory Groups are a brilliant mechanism to provide police with ‘critical friends’ and a broad range of advice during ‘critical incidents’ but while IAGs are intended to reflect communities in the force area, a lack of transparency on composition renders it difficult to ascertain whether communities are indeed represented, and by whom.

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