Labour will appoint a diversity tsar in the hope of encouraging more women, ethnic minorities and those from a working-class background to stand for office across all political levels and parties.
The external adviser will work in the heart of a Labour government, creating an action plan with Angela Rayner in the Cabinet Office to remove barriers, and also with the Electoral Commission.
Rayner, who will announce the plans later on Wednesday, is understood to be committed to boosting representation across parties in order to ensure politicians are no longer removed from, or unable to personally understand, the impact of the policies they enact.
The deputy Labour leader said: “Representation shapes which issues get debated in the first place and what is up for decision. You might learn by asking or listening, but the lived experience adds a different quality – and gives a different perspective. Lived experience brings its own expertise.”
Labour says the tsar’s work will not be focused solely on boosting representation within its own party as insiders say its candidate mentoring schemes such as the Bernie Grant leadership and the Jo Cox women in leadership programmes are already addressing its representation shortcomings.
Instead the adviser will launch recommendations based on removing barriers blocking many hoping to stand for office from underrepresented groups.
Samuel Kasumu, a former Conservative London mayoral hopeful, said he had been blocked from the longlist because he was “an outsider”. He claimed Tory officials who were making the decision had said: “You don’t sound like a politician,” with others adding: “You haven’t attended enough dinners.”
He told the BBC: “So all the indication was that the reason why they didn’t want me in the room was because I represented something that perhaps they were slightly uncomfortable with.”
Labour members have raised concerns the party has sidelined many voices who have lived experience of dealing with anti-black racism, Islamophobia, misogyny and classism because they are considered to be on the left of the party.
The deputy Labour leader has been praised by many within the party as being one of the few, authentic voices campaigning for marginalised voices. Rayner, the first woman to represent the constituency of Ashton-under-Lyne in its 180-year history, will discuss on Wednesday what a general election means for women alongside Australia’s former prime minister Julia Gillard, now chair of the global institute for women’s leadership at King’s College London.
They will share their experiences as women at the highest level of politics and discuss why representation matters.
Rayner said: “There’s more than a hint of snobbery in the argument that more authenticity and more diversity in politics is a recipe for disaster. The past decade will tell you that the playing fields of Eton education are no guarantee of good government.
“Our politics has never been so out of touch. Tackling the representation gap in gender, but also in class and ethnicity is an important step in building a politics that better reflects today’s Britain. It’s a personal priority for me.
“I am no stranger to misogyny but the messages I’ve received from women have brought home how widespread experiences like mine are, not only in Westminster but across the political world, and also in workplaces across the country. It would break my heart if other women like me were put off from aspiring to participate in public life. We need more people with backgrounds like mine in politics.”
According to recent figures, Britain ranks 20th out of 38 OECD countries in terms of female representation in parliament.
Labour is understood to be open to following the recommendation of legislating a “right to run” that makes sure employers allow people to take time off work to run for office, in a model similar to jury service.
Gillard said: “It is easy in power structures that have been historically run by men, including politics, for an old boys’ network to be the default, and for such networks to unconsciously favour the promotion of men who look and sound like they fit. For women at the forefront of change in politics, like Angela Rayner, all this means there are extra barriers which involve both gender and perceptions of class. For women of colour, the barriers are heightened.”
