Leeds Green Party Press Release
Leeds Green Party unequivocally condemns the recent racist attacks by Robert Jenrick, the Conservative shadow minister for justice. He has used the sexual exploitation of young girls to blanket-condemn “hundreds of thousands of people from alien cultures who possess medieval attitudes towards women” – and calling for their deportation.
Sexual exploitation of women and girls is not limited to a single group or religion. The 2020 Home Office report noted that the largest number of offenders are white but could not conclude whether any particular ethnicity was disproportionately represented[[1]].
Leeds Green Party refutes this as a pathetic and derisive attempt by Jenrick to court publicity from the media and appeal to the dog-whistle mentality of the Far Right.
Leeds Green Party notes that there are no Conservative MPs representing the urban areas of Leeds. Indeed, the Green Party is trying to promote Leeds as a City of Belonging, where everyone feels welcome and feels that they can contribute.
Green Party Councillor Mothin Ali (Gipton & Harehills) commented. “Jenrick’s comments are unhelpful and factually incorrect. We know that sexual exploitation is not limited to one group, race or religion, it exists everywhere and we should be working to end it everywhere, instead of trying to fuel hate against minorities for political capital.
It won’t work, the people of Leeds and Britain as a whole appreciate the diversity within our lives and know the value of humanity regardless of cultures”
Local Green Party campaigner Matt Rogan (Beeston & Holbeck) also says: “Leeds has a proud record of anti-fascist and anti-racist activity.Our South Leeds communities, such as the multi-cultural Beeston and Holbeck, proudly stand against fascism and divisive rhetoric. In 1935, the people of Leeds proudly stood united against Oswald Mosley and his blackshirts, declaring to them on Holbeck Moor: ‘They shall not pass, No Pasaran!’”
The Green Party is clear:
- We stand with every community that’s attacked or threatened by organised political violence.
- We support police and emergency workers protecting people in these communities.
- We support community leaders and individual citizens who are working to bring communities together in the face of attempts to inflame divisions.
Racism is the engine of fascism; Leeds Green Party stands in solidarity, playing our part to combat it.
[1] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5fd87e348fa8f54d5733f532/Group-based_CSE_Paper.pdf