Labour candidate for Wolverhampton North East and Shadow Housing Minister, Emma Reynolds, has welcomed the Labour Party’s Black Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME) manifesto at a regional launch in Wolverhampton.

The manifesto was launched in the West Midlands at Wolverhampton City College, Bilston Campus on Wellington Road. Neena Gill MEP, Rachel Reeves, Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, Pat McFadden, Shadow Europe Minister and Rob Marris, Labour candidate for Wolverhampton South West also helped launch the manifesto.

Emma, who is seeking re-election as a Member of Parliament, said “Unemployment among young people of a BAME background has risen 49% in five years. A Labour government will make sure 3,200 BAME young people benefit from our Jobs Guarantee Scheme. We will raise the National Minimum Wage to at least £8 by 2019 and clamp down on zero hours contracts to help close the pay gap which disadvantages people from black and minority ethnic backgrounds. A Labour government will also protect Punjabi A-Level and other foreign language qualifications which the Tories want to scrap.”

“Labour has a better plan to help make our country more equal as our BAME Manifesto demonstrates. A Labour government will drive the progress of racial equality across every area of government by making sure that public services are more representative especially in the police, judiciary and senior civil service. Last year only three black people were accepted to train as history teachers and only 5.1% of judges are from ethnic minorities. We will act to make sure these professions better reflect the make-up of Britain today.”