Zehra Zaidi my fellow campaigner and myself were pleased when Helen Grant MP coordinated a letter with cross party support from over 100 MPs and Peers supporting #BanknotesOfColour campaign to Mark Carney the Governor to challenge the bank's response and approach to selecting candidates for the forthcoming £50 banknote. Please see the letter below. The letter was covered in Telegraph and other media outlets.
The letter from the MPs and Peers is one of the few letters to get cross party support on a major issue race equality and the role of one our key institutions in Britain.
Please spread the word on social media regarding the campaign for #BanknotesOfColour. Sadly if cannot convince the Bank of England on their decision for the £50 note this summer then we may have to wait till 2030 or even later for another reissue of another banknote. I am sure you will agree this is unacceptable as we move towards a cashless society.
Dr Mark Carney
Governor, Bank of England
Threadneedle Street
London
EC2R 8AH
5 February 2019
Dear Dr Carney,
Re: #BanknotesOfColour campaign
I am writing to ask that as the Governor of the Bank of England you urgently review and take action on the lack of representation of ethnic minorities on British banknotes. This has been highlighted by the #BanknotesOfColour campaign which aims to secure the first ever ethnic minority on a British banknote. The joint campaign was the result of the merging of two campaigns initiated by social activists Zehra Zaidi and Dr Patrick Vernon OBE for ethnic minority representation on the new £50 polymer note.
Ethnic minority communities represent 14% of the UK population according to the 2011 UK Census and this figure will continue to grow – by some estimates this figure could double by 2050. We talk so much of cohesion and integration and of active and engaged citizenship. I believe passionately that all our communities should feel as if they have had, and will have, a stake in Britain’s past, present and future. One part of this effort is to ensure we show how different communities have helped build Britain and reflect that history.
The #BanknotesOfColour campaign argues that the Bank has a duty to ensure that wider diversity is represented on our currency. As you will know, there have only been four women in history on banknotes (including The Queen) and no ethnic minorities. Indeed, one of these four women, Jane Austen, was only secured for the £10 note after the online campaign in 2013.
As a result of the Government’s Race Disparity Audit, the Government has taken targeted action in ‘hotspot’ areas where there are pronounced gaps in outcomes and experience for those from our ethnic minority communities. I believe as a public institution, the Bank also has a responsibility to promote and, indeed, advance equality of opportunity. Advancing equality with regards to certain under-represented groups involves removing or minimising disadvantages, taking positive steps to meet the needs of under-represented groups and encouraging people to participate in public life. The two campaigns that preceded the joint #BanknotesOfColour campaign inspired members of the public from ethnic minorities to engage with the selection process for the new face of the £50 polymer note in ways that they had not done so before.
During the Jane Austen banknote campaign former MP Mary Macleod wrote to you and spoke of the whitewashing of women from banknotes. Undoubtedly, the absence of ethnic minorities from UK banknotes also sends a damaging message that ethnic minorities are invisible and have done nothing at all of significance in our history.
On 16 December 2018, the Sunday Times published an online letter signed by 220 people in public life, including cross-party MPs and peers, asking that the Bank of England actively seek strong ethnic minority
candidates to feature on the next re-issue of any polymer note (i.e. £5, £10, £20 or future post science-£50). There is no shortage of potential candidates, to name a few:
• Mary Seacole - the Jamaican British nurse who supported British troops during the Crimean war, whose contribution has been recognised as equal to that of Florence Nightingale.
• Noor Inayat Khan - a Muslim of Indian origin who was the first female radio operator to infiltrate enemy occupied France in World War II.
• Sophie Duleep Singh – the prominent Indian suffragette who was a member of the Women’s Social and Political Union.
• John Edmonstone - a freed black slave from Guyana, South America who lived in Edinburgh and taught students, including Charles Darwin, taxidermy.
I believe that the case for ethnic minority representation is strong. The Bank’s own guidance notes that its banknote characters should reflect the diversity of UK society and those chosen are on the basis of their contribution to our society and culture through their innovation, leadership or values. Yet the Bank of
England’s recent choice of scientist to feature on the new £50 is particularly problematic from the perspective of ethnic minority inclusion. The Bank’s method of ensuring a diverse set of science nominations relies on public nominations. However, as the #BanknotesOfColour campaign has highlighted, science is one category where ethnic minority figures are not as prominent, given historical inequality.
The Bank’s own guidance also notes that when selecting banknote characters, the Bank must look at who has been featured on banknotes in the past so that diversity is also reflected in the professional fields that are represented. Science is, of course, a hugely important subject area but there have already been several scientists appearing on banknotes in the past in England and Wales, including on the current £50 paper note.
In its choice for the next face of one of our banknotes, it is imperative that the Bank remembers that our country was not built just by people from these islands but by people from all across the world who came to Britain to seek a better life and embrace the values of liberty, personal independence, and individual effort. It is surely time for this change, if we are to send a message that the contribution of ethnic minority communities to Britain’s history, culture and economy truly matters.
I am joined in signing this letter by many senior cross-party Parliamentarians as we very much hope that you will review this issue and take urgent action to correct this injustice.
Yours sincerely,
Helen Grant MP
The Rt Hon Maria Miller MP
Chair of the Women and
Equalities Select Committee
James Cleverly MP
Deputy Chairman of the
Conservative Party
Helen Whately MP
Mims Davies MP
Minister of State for Civil Society
Victoria Atkins MP
Minister of State for Women
Sarah Newton MP
Minister of State for Disabled
People, Health and Work
Tom Tugendhat MBE MP
Ms Nusrat Ghani MP
Parliamentary Under Secretary of
State for Transport
The Rt Hon Diane Abbott MP
Shadow Home Secretary
The Rt Hon Harriet Harman QC MP
Marsha de Cordova MP
Shadow Minister for Disabled People
The Rt Hon Caroline Flint MP
The Rt Hon David Lammy MP
The Rt Hon Keith Vaz MP
Margaret Greenwood MP
Mrs Sharon Hodgson MP
Clive Lewis MP
Preet Gill MP
Eleanor Smith MP
Janet Daby MP
John Cryer MP
Kate Green OBE MP
Mary Glindon MP
Catherine West MP
Stephen Morgan MP
Wes Streeting MP
Rosie Cooper MP
The Rt Hon Joan Ryan MP
Ruth Cadbury MP
The Rt Hon Dr Julian Lewis MP
David T.C. Davies MP
Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP
Mrs Pauline Latham OBE MP
Mrs Sheryl Murray MP
Vicky Ford MP
Gillian Keegan MP
Rachel Maclean MP
The Rt Hon Justine Greening MP
Caroline Dinenage MP
The Rt Hon Dame Caroline
Spelman DBE MP
Dr Andrew Murrison MP
Eddie Hughes MP
The Rt Hon Sir Oliver Letwin MP
Bill Grant MP
Jeremy Lefroy MP
Antoinette Sandbach MP
The Rt Hon Theresa Villiers MP
The Rt Hon Edward Vaizey MP
Dr Sarah Wollaston MP
George Freeman MP
Lord Bourne
Minister for Faith
Baroness Redfern
Baroness Jenkin
The Rt Hon Baroness Warsi
The Rt Hon Lord Ranbir Suri
The Rt Hon Baroness Berridge
Lord Cooper
Baroness Wyld
The Rt Hon Baroness Chisholm
The Rt Hon Baroness McGregor-
Smith CBE
The Rt Hon Sir Vince Cable MP
Leader of the Liberal Democrats
The Rt Hon Tom Brake MP
Christine Jardine MP
Layla Moran MP
Baroness Scott of Needham Market
Baroness Benjamin OBE
Lord Marks
Lord Stoneham
Baroness Bonham-Carter
Baroness Kramer
Baroness Bakewell of
Hardington Mandeville MBE
Baroness Garden
Baroness Harris
Baroness Humphreys
Baroness Grender MBE
Caroline Lucas MP
Lord Victor O Adebowale CBE
Lord Herman Ouseley
Daniel Zeichner MP
Helen Hayes MP
Emma Reynolds MP
Stephen Kinnock MP
Louise Haigh MP
Debbie Abrahams MP
Emma Dent Coad MP
Toby Perkins MP
Mr Jim Cunningham MP
Stella Creasy MP