The colour of votes

摘要

In 1964, as Peter Griffiths fought to win Smethwick, a parliamentary seat in the Midlands, a slogan appeared: "If you want a nigger for a neighbour, vote Labour." Nearly 50 years later his Tory successors must rue the day he took his seat. According to Andrew Cooper, the prime minister's chief pollster, the party's chances of capturing a parliamentary maj ority in 2015 depend largely on winning over ethnic-minority voters. It is of no surprise that Grant Shapps, the Tory chairman, chose to launch the party's campaign to target marginal seats in a Hindu temple. New data from the 2011 census show why they are so concerned. In the past decade ethnic minorities have gone from being 9% of the population of England and Wales to 14%.