Most ethnic minority Londoners agree that international events affect ties between people in the UK, according to a new survey that comes as tensions simmer over Israel’s war in Gaza.
A total of 59 per cent of ethnic minority Londoners believe that foreign affairs have a domestic impact, the survey for the Mile End Institute at Queen Mary University of London said.
Some 60 per cent of Pakistani Londoners believe that a political party’s position on the conflict in Kashmir will influence their vote at the next general election, and 42 per cent of Indian Londoners say the same.
George Galloway’s shock by-election win in Rochdale showed that Gaza is another international factor in the coming general election, research fellow Farah Hussain noted.
“You can’t generalise and say every single Pakistani Muslim person in the UK is going to vote a certain way, or that it’s the most important issue for them compared to the cost of living or taxation,” she said.
“But international events such as Gaza and Kashmir do play a part in how ethnic minority people vote in the UK, and is something that the parties should consider.”
The poll by Number Cruncher Politics of 1,002 white and 1,002 minority adults living in Greater London found that only 26 per cent of all Londoners are satisfied with Rishi Sunak’s premiership.
British-Indian Londoners were more supportive of the UK’s first Hindu PM than other minorities, with 47 per cent either very or somewhat satisfied. The report said their backing may be a “critical factor” in the general election in constituencies such as Brent, Harrow, Ealing and Hounslow.
Asked whom they trusted more to manage the UK economy, 37 per cent of minority Londoners said Labour and 19 per cent said the Conservatives.
The survey also found that 13 per cent of ethnic minority Londoners were the victim of a racist incident in the past two years, while a further 24 per cent witnessed a racist incident but did not experience it directly.
It said that 50 per cent of all Londoners believe that the UK is very or moderately racist, and 56 per cent of ethnic minorities, rising to 83 per cent of Caribbean Londoners. Some 37 per cent overall say the country is not racist, but that there is room for improvement.
Caribbean Londoners also led the way in mistrust of the Metropolitan Police, with 82 per cent of them agreeing that the Force is “institutionally racist”.
Overall, 47 per cent of all Londoners including white people backed that view, and 54 per cent of minority Londoners.
There was no consensus about how to fix perceptions of Britain’s biggest police force. Only a minority of 30 per cent of ethnic minority Londoners would trust the Met more if there were more officers from their own ethnic group. The same number said having more female officers would make them trust it more.
The poll was conducted before the London mayoral election. It found stronger support for Sadiq Khan among ethnic minority Londoners than Londoners as a whole - 54 per cent against 43 per cent.
But similar numbers - 34 per cent of white Londoners and 33 per cent of ethnic minority Londoners - were satisfied with the way that he has done his job as Mayor, significantly lagging 52 per cent support for Labour in London.
