If there’s one thing Britain should be emphatically proud of it’s our reputation as an outward-looking country, which accepts others and sees the benefit of cooperation. We have a rich history of working with and living alongside people from diverse backgrounds, this is what makes us great. Britain Stronger in Europe – the official remain campaign – should be celebrating Britain’s identity and igniting the fire in people who feel passionately about inclusiveness and progressiveness. The odd thing is that it’s completely failed to do so.
What’s doubly odd is that less than 24 hours before voters head to the polls, Stronger In has presented only one spokesperson from an ethnic minority background in any of its live TV debates. By contrast, Priti Patel has been a prominent voice in the leave campaign. On Tuesday, London mayor Sadiq Khan took to the stage for the remain side in the penultimate, live EU referendum debate at Wembley. And he was good. He exposed the dangerous lies peddled by Boris Johnson, as well as making a strong case for the security benefits of staying in the EU. We could have done with seeing much more of Khan, and much earlier on in the campaign.
We’re used to a non-diverse political class in the UK. Just 6% of MPs in the House of Commons and members of the House of Lords are from BAME backgrounds, less than half the proportion (13%) in the population as a whole. By failing to accurately represent Britain’s diverse population, the remainers have overlooked their strongest argument and natural voting base: if you see yourself – and want to be seen as – an open, tolerant, and progressive person you should vote remain, because it is against everything you stand for to live in a country shaped by Nigel Farage.
Johnson and many others backing Brexit push the idea that the only solution to the country’s ills is to turn our backs on our neighbours and close the doors on those who need our help. Millennials, those aged between 18 and 34 years old, are more likely than other Britons to have benefitted from international travel and education and have friends and partners from outside of the UK. We are the most likely demographic to disagree with Johnson, and be enthused by outward-looking, liberal ideas.
Polling reports that the majority (53%) of 18- to 34-year-olds say they back staying in, against 29% who want to leave. The problem is that only half of under-35s are planning to vote and just 21% of 18- to 24-year-olds say they are interested in the EU referendum at all.
It may be too late to enthuse young people and those turned off by what they see as another political fiasco run by people so distant from their own experience. An opportunity to engage the disenfranchised and those new to politics was missed. We must learn from this mistake. In future those setting up news segments and panel discussions must try harder to represent all sections of the population. For these final hours of the referendum campaign, we can only hope that the voters who represent this younger and more diverse Britain will opt to celebrate the UK as a beacon of openness and tolerance, by voting to remain.
