Great Britain: Anti-racism election pledge furor

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Unk's Wild Wild West : One Thread

"The anti-racism election pledge produced by the Commission for Racial Equality lays down a set of principles for good practice and conduct by all those involved in political campaigns in national, local and European elections."

Full text of anti-racism election pledge

Portillo refuses to sign race pledge

[Excerpts:]

Shadow chancellor Michael Portillo has become the most senior Conservative MP to refuse to sign an anti-racism pledge. The pact was drawn up by the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) to encourage politicians not to use racist language during the forthcoming general election campaign.

"I went into public life to speak for myself and I will use my own language, my own words."

Other Tories lining up to voice their opposition to the pledge include MP Sir Richard Body. He said: "If we are going to have various bodies requiring people to sign declarations of one kind or another there could be really no end to it."

Dr Raj Chandran, a former member of the CRE and Conservative candidate at the 1997 general election, said the pledge was counter-productive and risked suppressing freedom of speech.



-- Rich (howe9@shentel.net), April 20, 2001


Moderation questions? read the FAQ