Hosting and speaking at today’s ‘Equal Power Equal Voice Event’, North Wales MS Mark Isherwood emphasised the importance of promoting more diversity and inclusion in politics, highlighting that the Senedd has still not had a Member who is a wheelchair user in its 23 year existence.
Equal Power Equal Voice is a partnership between Women’s Equality Network Wales, Stonewall Cymru, Disability Wales, and Ethnic Minorities & Youth Support Team, EYST Wales, working together to deliver a mentoring programme which aims to increase diversity of representation in public and political life in Wales, funded by the National Lottery Community Fund and Welsh Government.
Speaking at the event, Mr Isherwood highlighted that disabled people continue to be underrepresented in politics in the UK, and said that the Senedd ‘has had to be reminded on occasions’ when barriers to disability access have been experienced.
He said:
“Following the 2019 UK General Election, 65 or 10% of Members of the House of Commons were from ethnic minority backgrounds. In October 2021, 52 or 6.6% of Members of the House of Lords were from ethnic minority groups. Six or 4.5% of the Scottish Parliament’s 129 members and three or 5% of the 60 Members of the Senedd/Welsh Parliament were from ethnic minority backgrounds, including the first woman of colour elected since the start of devolution, my colleague Natasha Asghar.
“Approximately 14% of the UK population was from a minority ethnic background in 2021, ranging from 3% in Northern Ireland and 4.9% in Wales, to 15.7% in England. 5% of the Senedd’s Members are openly LGBTQ.
“When I first became a Member here, Membership was gender balanced, although 43% of Members now are Women. Although the Senedd/Welsh Parliament prides itself on being disability accessible, it has had to be reminded on occasions that barriers to disability access exist or have been designed in because of an apparent failure to involve lived experience. And the Senedd has still not had a Member who is a wheelchair user in its 23 year existence.
“As last summer’s UK Government ‘Barriers to elected office for disabled people’ report states ‘disabled people, who make up around 1 in 5 of the UK population, are thought to be under represented in politics at different levels of government, both across the UK and internationally’ and that the number of disabled people in politics across all levels of Government ‘are almost always below 1 in 5’, confirming that disabled people are underrepresented.
“Having previously participated in the EYST ‘Wales Routes into Public Life’ Mentoring Programme, to see more Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority people fulfil their potential and achieve positions in public life in Wales, working with excellent Mentees to improve their understanding of the workings of government in Wales, and my understanding of their communities, I was delighted to take part in the ‘Equal Power Equal Voice’ cross equalities mentoring programme to increase diverse representation in public and political life in Wales, working with another excellent Mentee, and I have agreed to continue as a Mentor.”