The Liberal Democrats have announced the top 11 selected for the London Assembly list elections next year.
The candidates are:
Mike Tuffrey
Dee Doocey
Caroline Pidgeon
Jeremy Ambache
Geoff Pope
Ben Abbotts
Stephen Knight
Shas Sheehan
Duncan Borrowman
Monica Whyte
Merlene Emerson
However with nine out of the eleven being white the result has been condemned by incumbent Mayor Ken Livingstone: “The LibDems’ failure to select any black, Asian or other ethnic minority candidates in winnable positions on the Assembly list is simply not sustainable.”
Pointing to London’s diversity Mr Livingstone said the city “deserves an Assembly that reflects that fact, which means not just selecting black and Asian people as token candidates but selecting them in winnable seats. Unless the LibDems step in to correct the selection of their list candidates they will be totally out of step with London.”
Livingstone’s criticisms were echoed on the Liberal Democrat activist site LibDem News with one poster saying they were “very disappointing lack of ethnic minority representation in the top ranks.”
Another poster said: “Seeing these results is one of the first times I’ve actually felt ashamed to be a Lib Dem. We didn’t even manage to put a BME candidate within the top 7 preferences”
However another poster defended the selection process and outcome saying “I don’t care if my representative on the GLA or in Parliament shares my gender, my age, my class, my religion or my race. Any party that fiddles the system to ensure better ‘representation’ on any grounds except ability loses my vote and my respect.”
Meanwhile Simon Woolley, Director of Operation Black Vote claimed the party had “spectacularly failed their Black members and Black Londoners.”
Mr Woolley said “in London where 1 in 3 are from a BME community the Lib Dems have behaved like an oligarchy hell bent on maintaining an unrepresentative status quo. The consequences for the party as a whole could mean a meltdown of BME support.”
