UK CHURCH SEES RED

The red color of the British Labour Party covered the political board of the United Kingdom’s July 4, 2024, general elections.  It did this with 34% of the popular vote, which won them 412 seats, beating the incumbent governing Conservative Party by 291 seats.  The Labour Party has now formed a new government commitment to change the service of the British public.  So says its leader, Sir Keir Starmer, the new prime minister, in his first speech at number 10 Downing Street, London, the traditional home and office of British prime ministers. 

The Labour Party has traditionally been the political home of most Black British voters.  However, during the last two elections, we have begun to see a steady trickle of black voters turning towards the Conservatives, a party of more traditional conservative values and with a big business bias. The national political climate has become so volatile that political commentators have already warned the new Labour government that they will have a very short honeymoon period.

The Black Church had given notice of its readiness to push back when it comes to the interests and well-being of the Black Community. In the past year, it had provided two reports to guide black church voters on contemporary issues requiring political attention. Those two reports were the Black Church Political Mobilisation: A Manifesto for Action, which had been circulated to all the former members of Parliament, and the UK2030: A Call to Action.  Even as the British voters were queuing to cast their votes, twenty Black Church leaders met one mile away from the British House of Commons, the United Kingdom’s parliament, to consider how to operationalize and mobilize the UK Vision 2030: A Call to Action under the next government.

This report states its’ ‘purpose is to provide a roadmap for leaders in the Black Community, policymakers, and professionals to be able to take practical steps toward addressing legacies of inequalities.  The advocates for UK Vision 2030’s strategic process is to take a proactive posture toward addressing racial inequalities in the Arts, Entertainment and Sports, Business and Economy, Education, Family, Government, Health, Health, Media and Religion.

The new Labour government, irrespective of their stated intentions to be more caring, will be under the watchful scrutiny of the Black Church, who are aware of the shift to the right of politics not only in the United Kingdom but also across Europe. This shift includes an increase in racial discrimination and ethnic profiling, as outlined in the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights report. In the United Kingdom, this shift to the right of politics is reflected in the Reform Party’s gaining 14% of the popular vote and its strategic position to influence both the Labour Party and the Conservative parties’ policies and initiatives. 

The heterogeneous nature of the Black Church in the United Kingdom, which is made up of over a hundred different denominations and church networks, challenged its ability in the past to present a unified agenda for its African and Caribbean constituency.   The UK Vision 2030 advocates and the National Church Leaders’ Forum are aware that the Black Church can no longer be perceived as the sleeping giant of the Black population; it has to rise to the prophetic call that it has come to the United Kingdom for such a time as this.