Dundee Councillor adds his support to "Reflecting Britain" Campaign
Dundee's Liberal Democrat Council Group Leader, Cllr Fraser Macpherson, has today (11th February 2006) signed his support up to the "Reflecting Britain" campaign, which seeks to make the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Party more representative of 21st century Britain.
The campaign points out that more than a half of the population is female and just under 10 per cent of the public is from an ethnic minority, yet just 20 per cent of MPs are women and 15 MPs (2%) are members of ethnic minorities.
'Reflecting Britain' has been launched to coincide with the Liberal Democrat leadership contest, and the three leadership contenders have each pledged to address the issue of under-representation of women and ethnic-minorities.
Fraser said, "The Liberal Democrats' Gender Balance Task Force (GBTF) has made significant progress, with 7 out of 21 new MPs elected in 2005 being women; that said, women remain seriously under-represented in parliament.
"There is also the need to urgently address the under-representation of ethnic minorities. The Party must mirror the success of the GBTF and give a genuine voice to ethnic minorities in Parliament.
"'Reflecting Britain' has my full support in its campaign to make the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Party more diverse and reflective of wider society."