EU Referendum: Race Hate Crime

Debate between Keith Vaz and Amanda Solloway

Tuesday 5th July 2016 Commons Chamber

[Keith Vaz]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right and as the former leader of a council she will know the importance of starting at a very young age. That is the impressionable age and that is where we need to begin the dialogue. That is where we need to show these positive images. We all represent constituencies with ethnic minority communities. It is important that that exposure happens at a very early stage.

The referendum polarised opinions. I, of course, voted for remain. I say of course, because under the previous Labour Government I was a Minister for Europe. There were many Ministers for Europe under the Governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. One of my jobs, when I was appointed by Tony Blair, was to go to the eastern European countries and prepare them for enlargement. His first words to me were, “Get closer to them than the French and the Germans.” I did and I travelled a lot: I made 54 visits in two years. I went to eastern Europe, having never visited before, and it was a revelation. We should say in the House how pleased we are with the contribution that eastern European communities have made to our country. People are surprised to hear that the figure is 3 million. I do not think that one can tell, because these are the hardest-working communities, they contribute in each and every constituency, and they make the lives of our citizens better.

I was shocked to hear not just about the incidents recounted by hon. Members or about the crimes committed but about how social attitudes have changed because of the referendum. It has changed not just the political make-up of our country—with so many party leaders resigning within days of the referendum—but attitudes. That is why last Sunday, with my hon. Friend the Member for Ealing Central and Acton (Dr Huq), I went to Ealing Broadway—not Leicester but Ealing Broadway, Ealing being the centre of the Polish community in London—and sat through a Polish mass at the Church of Our Lady Mother of the Church. It was the first Polish mass I had been to since I was Minister for Europe and I went to a mass in Piekary Slaskie in Poland.

At the end of the mass, I was asked to address the congregation, and I reminded them of the great affection we all felt for the contribution made by the Polish and other communities that have come here as a result of enlargement. When I went outside, an elderly Polish gentleman came up to me and said, “I have to tell you what happened the day after the referendum. I go to an elderly persons’ lunch club. When I went in, I was told by the person who runs it that, because of the referendum vote, I was not allowed to have lunch with the other people.” If I had not heard this myself, I would not have believed it. I represent probably the most multi-racial constituency of anyone sitting here, and I have never heard such a thing from members of the British Asian community. Yet here was I, in the middle of Ealing, hearing this from an elderly Polish gentleman who had lived all his life in this country—Polish migration began at the time of the second world war.

What starts with a social attitude or a speech, whether at school—as mentioned by my hon. Friend the Member for Hornsey and Wood Green (Catherine West)—or among the general migrant community, ends up with a hate crime and violence. That is what we need to guard against.

[Amanda Solloway (Derby North) (Con)]

The right hon. Gentleman mentioned school. I heard a horrific story the other day from a headteacher about two seven-year-old boys who had always been best friends. On the Monday after the referendum, one of them said to the other, whose parents were Polish but who had been born here, “You’re going home. You won’t be in this country any more”. That cannot be right, surely.

[Keith Vaz]

The hon. Lady is absolutely right. It cannot be right for a seven-year-old to say such things, but it is because of prevailing attitudes either in the local area or, most probably, in the home of that child. That is exactly what my hon. Friend the Member for Bolton South East was saying, and that is why her debate, held so quickly after the referendum, is so important. It is not about whether someone voted to stay in or come out—it is the settled view of the British people that we should come out—but about the attitudes that remain, the speeches made and the quotes she gave. These points have to be regretted.

I am sorry that I missed yesterday’s urgent question from my right hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Edgbaston (Ms Stuart). It is really important that the Government settle the issue of whether EU migrants can stay here. It is not an issue for the Conservative party’s leadership campaign—it cannot be talked about in hustings; it has to be told to the House. I believe that the Prime Minister is an honest, honourable, fair and diligent person, and I believe that if he came to that Dispatch Box tomorrow and was asked this question, he would come out with a settled view and tell us that they can stay—that they should not be, as we heard yesterday, bargaining counters. I am sure he would say that we will allow the 1.2 million Britons to stay in the EU and that we will keep the 3 million. Of course, the numbers will not stack up in any case. The need to clarify is what causes people to be concerned, which is why it is important that we clarify these matters as soon as possible.