Labour is abandoning Black voters

Labour is in deep trouble with Black voters. Operation Black Vote (OBV) chair David Weaver warns the party is ‘accepting the normalisation of racism’. This isn’t just a polling dip, it is a fundamental collapse of trust from its voters.

Weaver highlights how to government’s plans to restrict jury trials will ‘heighten, normalise and embed’ racial disproportionality. This is not a new concern for those watching the party’s trajectory. We’ve long been aware of how the current leadership has prioritised pro-business optics over the safety of marginalised communities.

Labour have a hierarchy of racism

We’ve all long known of the hierarchy of racism within Labour. In the 2022 Forde Report, commissioned by the party itself, confirmed this toxic culture. It found that Labour was failing to treat all forms of racism with equal seriousness.

Martin Forde KC detailed how Black and Asian MPs and members faced specific, targeted abuse which was often ignored or downplayed by Labour’s own bureaucracy. The reported stated that antisemitism was being used as a factional weapon while other forms of racism – specifically anti-Black racism and Islamophobia – were being systemically ignored.

The Labour Files and subsequent investigations revealed a judiciary as well as a party structure which often treats Black and Brown voices as disposable when they conflict with the party’s central narratives. This hierarchy means that whilst some forms of prejudice are rightly tackled, others are normalised, creating an environment where Black voters feel increasingly ignored and alienated.

Juries are out on justice

Restricting juries means moving the UK towards judge-only trials, removing a massive safety net for Black people. In England and Wales, only 1% of judges are Black and removing the public oversight of a jury hands total power to an overwhelmingly white judiciary.

In drug offenses the odds of getting a custodial sentence are 140% higher for Black people than for white offenders with similar histories. Juries act as a filter for prejudice that single judges simply do not provide.

This reform ignores the racial reality of the UK justice system. Juries often act as the last line of defence for Black people against state overreach. By gutting this right, the Labour party is intensifying this systematic bias that already sees Black people given longer sentences.

We are not protecting Black people from the prejudices of biased white judges. A University of Manchester study, Racial Bias and the Bench found that 95% of legal professionals believe racial bias plays a role in the justice system. Furthermore, 56% of those professionals reported witnessing a judge show racial bias towards a defendant.

At a time when racial tensions are growing and white supremacy is on the rise in the UK, it’s fucked up to think that Labour thinks removing juries is going to be a good idea.

The Race Equality Act betrayal

Confidence is also eroding because of the lack of urgency surrounding the Race Equality Act. Labour promised a landmark Race Equality Act to mandate ethnicity pay gap reporting for large employers. However, the legislation has faced repeated delays.

Campaigners have accused Labour of stalling out of a fear of political pushback, with the party’s promises being nothing more than performative bollocks. Labour seems to love using Black struggles for campaign photo-ops but slows the actual legislation progression behind the scenes.

This stalling is a material failure. Closing the ethnicity pay gap could add £37bn to the UK’s annual GDP. Labour is failing to act on these promised protections whilst simultaneously fast-tracking racist jury reforms, sending a clear message about whose safety and financial stability it actually values.

The marginal seat risk

Black voters backed Labour more than any other group in 2024, yet that loyalty is not reflected in the party leadership. Weaver warns that support is now wavering in key marginal seats.

We saw how the 2024 elections produced a surge in marginal seats, with 115 being won by a margin of 5% or less. In constituencies such as Hendon, where the winning margin was a tiny 0.04% – just 15 votes – a small shift in Black voter turnout is enough to change the result. Especially when the white population of places such as Hendon only equate to 50%.  So why the fuck are Labour spitting in the face of their most loyal voter demographic?

By betraying Black voters, Labour risk putting marginal seats on the line.

Labour’s strategy of putting people of colour in high positions without changing the underlying systems is failing. It gives legitimacy to institutional racism rather than dismantling it. If Labour continues to ignore these warnings it will lose more than just votes. It will lose its moral authority to stand for equality.

Will the party finally stop taking Black people’s votes for granted? Or will it let its most loyal voter demographic walk away?

Featured image via National Diversity Awards