Introduction: Are British Ethnic Minorities Politically Under-represented?

Obamas 2008 presidential victory in the USA triggered a debate in Europe and the UK as to whether someone from an ethnic minority could achieve similar success in national politics. The 2010 General Election saw a small increase in ethnic minority candidates, but a near doubling of the number of black and Asian members of parliament (MPs) in the House of Commons. During 2010 and 2011, the University of Manchester organised a seminar series on ethnic minorities political representation in Britain. This symposium features some of the highlights of that series. In this article we summarise some of the key arguments.