Black History Month

Satvir Kaur Excerpts

Thursday 22nd October 2026 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for Equalities (Satvir Kaur)]

It is an honour to close today’s debate. I thank the Minister for Homelessness, Democracy, Communities and Faith for opening the debate and for everything she has done in a personal capacity and in her time here to champion our diverse communities. I thank everyone from across the Chamber for their heartfelt, powerful and thought-provoking contributions. It is rare for this Chamber to come together in this way, and I am pleased that it has done so over an issue as important as this one.

I know that Black History Month can at times be viewed as tokenistic, but it is only tokenistic if we allow it to be. I agree that we should mark the 40th anniversary, and that this should be a regular item of Government business. As we heard from the contributions this afternoon from Members who represent communities across our country, Black History Month is an incredible opportunity to honour our diverse communities, pay tribute to the huge contribution they make to our cities, towns and neighbourhoods, and celebrate the success stories that inspire people like me every single day—stories too often left untold.

This month’s theme is “Honouring Our Communities”, and I thank Members for doing just that. We pay tribute to trailblazers like Dr Allan Minns, the first black mayor in the UK, who was elected over 100 years ago in rural Norfolk; I thank my hon. Friend the Member for South West Norfolk (Terry Jermy) for telling us his story. We pay tribute to Paul Boateng, the UK’s first black Minister; our first black Serjeant at Arms; Councillor Faduma Mohamed, the Mayor of Ealing; Lord Rees from Bristol; and Yassin Mohamud, the current mayor of Bristol.

[Carla Denyer]

Lord Mayor.

[Satvir Kaur]

The Lord Mayor of Bristol.

We pay tribute to my right hon. Friend the Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington (Ms Abbott), who has been mentioned several times in the debate, as the first black woman elected to Parliament. I remember sitting next to her when she became Mother of the House and feeling incredibly emotional. We pay tribute to John Okungbaiye, about whom my hon. Friend the Member for Erith and Thamesmead (Ms Oppong-Asare) spoke passionately, as she did about others who have contributed in her constituency. As there is an ongoing love-in for my hon. Friend, I just want to add to it. There is a real sisterhood in Parliament, and I have felt that so strongly with my hon. Friend; I thank her for her friendship, support and encouragement. I feel as though the resilience she oozes is slowly seeping into my veins, so I thank her personally for that.

We pay tribute to Eric Huntley and the others who were spoken about passionately by my hon. Friend the Member for Ealing Southall (Deirdre Costigan); Harvey De Pass, from Reading, who was mentioned by my hon. Friend the Member for Reading West and Mid Berkshire (Olivia Bailey); and my hon. Friend the Member for Brent East (Dawn Butler), for being the first female black Minister in this country and for everything she has done to champion this cause. I pay tribute to the Government’s Race Equality Engagement Group members, who as we speak are all in Liverpool with the Minister for Women and Equalities discussing how we go further in making more meaningful change. I thank Baroness Doreen Lawrence for generally being an inspiration to us all, but also for chairing the group and bringing it together.

[Gordon McKee (Glasgow South) (Lab)]

Could I add to that illustrious list Andrew Watson, who was the first black international football player when he captained Scotland to a 6-1 victory over England in the late 19th century?

[Satvir Kaur]

I pay particular tribute to Andrew Watson.

I join others in thanking my hon. Friend the Member for Feltham and Heston (Seema Malhotra) for her tireless work as the former Minister for Equalities and for her personal support to me in my new role.

I pay tribute to the likes of my great-grandad, Gyani Sundar Singh Sagar, who worked closely with local black leaders 50 years ago to help change the law so that bus drivers and those riding motorbikes could do so while wearing turbans and not compromise their faith. In fact, the family home is now owned by a Jamaican family whose dad was a Rasta and only got his job as a bus conductor wearing his locs and hat because of my great-grandad’s campaign. In my home city of Southampton, where our diversity is celebrated and which gave me a sense of belonging growing up, I pay tribute to the likes of Don John, Jayanti Shah, Suki Sitaram and Lou Taylor for their tireless work on race equality.

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle-under-Tyne (Adam Jogee) and the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for South West Devon (Rebecca Smith), for mentioning our Commonwealth soldiers who too often get forgotten when we talk about the contribution made in our world wars. They helped beat fascism and stood by us throughout it all. We celebrate the likes of Estlyn McFarquhar, a retired midwife whom I met in Bath. She told me that she has delivered thousands of babies, and she was instrumental in setting up a place for ethnic minorities to meet and get support in her neighbourhood.

[Adam Jogee]

On the subject of meetings, a second ago the Minister described my constituency as Newcastle upon Tyne—we are Newcastle-under-Lyme. To make up for it, will she come and meet the Staffordshire Black Business Network, which I feel sure would like to see her?

[Satvir Kaur]

Any excuse to meet the good people of Newcastle, and I will not make that mistake again—I thank my hon. Friend for calling me out on it.

In Bath, I met amazing people at Fairfield House who bring older generations together to celebrate their cultures through heritage, art and storytelling. They also make the most amazing food, which I felt compelled to try. We celebrate the fact that over 98% of FTSE 100 companies now have ethnic minority representation on their boards, acknowledging that having diversity at decision-making tables is not only the right thing to do, but good for business as it improves productivity and growth. We celebrate Croydon BME Forum for all it does, and I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Croydon East (Natasha Irons) for talking passionately about it earlier.

We thank those who have taken up the mantle for race equality, accepting that it cannot fall on black communities alone. That has been reflected in Members’ contributions in this debate, including that of the Liberal Democrat spokesperson, the hon. Member for Chichester (Jess Brown-Fuller), on her important experience in her constituency. We thank the likes of Salisbury museum, which gave local black communities the opportunity to own and narrate their own history, in their own words, on slavery.

Black History Month, however, gives us an opportunity not only to reflect on the huge strides made towards race equality, but to acknowledge that the fight is not over. As we have heard today, it is important to highlight where we are falling short and where we must go further, and to accept that we stand on the shoulders of giants and that now our generation owes it to the next generation to pick up the mantle, deal with issues that we thought were left far behind us, take on the next set of challenges and continue the fight for equality.

When I was growing up in Southampton’s inner city as the daughter of a market stall trader, my dad taught me to be a grafter, like him—to work harder and to go that extra mile to get the same opportunities as others, because the colour of our skin will hold us back. One of the reasons I am in politics is to ensure I can teach my baby girl, Emmy, and children of colour everywhere that because of the changes our generation made, when you work harder, you go further, because talent, ability and access to opportunities are everywhere, in every community, and the colour of your skin has nothing to do with it.

That is why this Government intend to introduce ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting, not as an end in itself but as a means to an end—it moves us towards a fairer chance to get on in life for everyone. My hon. Friend the Member for Feltham and Heston asked for an update, and I am pleased to report that we are moving at pace and keen to get parliamentary time as soon as possible. I pay tribute to the likes of Change the Race Ratio and others who have campaigned on this issue for a number of years; I saw at first hand the important work they do earlier this month.

In health, the Amos review shone a light on the shameful discrepancies faced by ethnic minority women in maternity care—a service that many of us know only too well needs to show up for you, whoever you are. I am pleased that in response, as well as announcing the creation of the UK’s first ever maternity and neonatal commissioner to hold the system to account, this Government have committed to the national roll-out of the perinatal equity and anti-discrimination programme. This will tackle unacceptable inequalities in care and outcomes, particularly for black and Asian women, those from deprived backgrounds and other marginalised groups.

Hate crime and racism were sadly a common theme of the debate. I pay tribute to organisations that tackle those issues across the country, and particularly Stand Against Racism & Inequality—an amazing Bristol charity that I visited recently, which does the most inspiring work supporting victims of racial abuse and going into schools to give children a sense of belonging.

The truth is that there are forces out there that seek to divide us and pit one community against another, but in reality, when we rise, we do so together. There are forces out there that will tell you that you are English only if your skin is a certain colour or you are from a certain race. Well, I am here to tell you that they are wrong—they were wrong in the ’30s, they were wrong in the ’60s, and they are wrong now. They will never succeed in dividing this great country—not then, not now—because our diversity is our strength. It has made us who we are today: resourceful, skilled, vibrant, talented, innovative, cultured and so much more. At a time when members of our communities are feeling vulnerable and under attack, my message is clear: you belong here. Your heritage, your history and your culture is our heritage, history and culture, and it makes us proud to be British.

We know that the scale of the challenge before us is huge. That is why we must meet it with the same level of ambition to tackle it. Now is the time to be bold, brave and courageous and to re-own the narrative. That will be achieved only by fighting hard for race equality like those who came before us—by working together, with steely determination, and telling the world that we are the great country we are because of our diversity, rather than in spite of it. Together we can, and we will. I thank everyone again for their contributions, and I commend this debate to the House.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House has considered Black History Month.