General Election 2024: British accountability and tackling hate crime – the wish list of Sikh voters in key target Labour areas
They may not be as numerous as Muslim voters, and there are no rebel candidates stealing them away from Labour over conflicts abroad, but Punjabis are a specific electorate with their own concerns, and some of their communities happen to be highly concentrated in key target seats for Sir Keir Starmer’s party.
The Sikh Federation UK estimates their community could have an impact in up to 80 constituencies, and so we’ve taken our parliamentary people’s bench to two seats in South East England, to find out what Sikh voters are looking for in the next government.
First, we visit a Punjabi sporting event – the ancient game of Kabaddi.
Described as Sikh sumo wrestling, and played in teams, it originated as a military training exercise on how to take captives and win ground.
In a circular arena, teams of well-stacked men send players to “raid” the opposition territory and touch their opponents without being pinned down or shoved out of the circle.
The event is taking place in the constituency of Ealing Southall, known as The Little Punjab.
Dabinderjit Singh from the Sikh Federation UK
Fuel, shopping and rent
Sikhs make up 30% of the population here but spectators come to the event from across the country – and sharing their thoughts, seated on our parliamentary bench at the edge of the kabaddi pitch, they expressed views similar to those we’ve heard elsewhere.
“Fuel, shopping, rents, it just goes up and up,” says Kabaddi referee Sucha Singh Thind. “Every government comes in. They promise a lot of things, ‘we do this, we do that’, but nothing happens in the end.”
Kabaddi referee Sucha Singh Thind
Southall resident Arshpreet Singh Randhawa adds: “The current cost of living as we all know is through the roof and it is becoming extremely difficult to live and sustain, evident that with the amount of homeless on the streets.”
Ealing Southall is a safe Labour seat, but our next stop, Gravesham in Kent, is more of a knife edge.
Home to the largest Gurdwara in the UK, it is currently held by the Conservatives, but is a Labour target.
Residents in Southall
Here, 8% of the electorate is Sikh, and with a recent survey showing they are inclined to vote Labour and are also likely to turn out in large numbers, they could tip the balance over who wins here.
Accountability for the past
Outside their place of worship, a giant banner commemorates the 40th anniversary of the Sikh massacre at the Golden Temple at Amritsar in India.
Classified documents released in 2014 raised questions over the involvement of the British government and the SAS in events leading up to the killings. Sikhs at the Gurdwara in Gravesend said they want politicians to commit to a public inquiry into British actions.
Sky’s parlimentary bench outside a Sikh temple in South East England
Dabinderjit Singh, from the Sikh Federation UK, says: “We’re marking the 40th anniversary of 1984, and I remember 10 years ago when those papers came out, we just thought, why did our government advise on attacking a holy place?
“It’s something that changed my life and changed the lives of many people.”
Even younger Sikhs at the Gurdwara, who weren’t born in 1984, tell us this is an important issue for them.
Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour committed to a judge-led inquiry, but it’s not clear what Labour will do under Sir Keir.
It’s not a manifesto pledge, however, his deputy Angela Rayner tweeted on 1 June.
“We mark the 40th anniversary of the rain of the Golden Temple,” she wrote, adding that Labour stands with the Sikh community in calling for an inquiry into the historic role Britain played.
The latest survey of Sikh voting intentions shows 43% Labour and 20% for the Conservatives. But many are still undecided.
Mr Singh adds: “The surveys we’ve done suggest 85% of Sikhs actually come out and vote. There are probably one million Sikh voters.
“Sikhs exist in every single constituency in the UK. And on top of that, we have towns and cities where there are 20 to 25 thousand Sikhs, and therefore the Sikh vote really matters on the 4th of July.”
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Tackling hate crime
Another issue, raised by several worshipers, is tackling hate crime specific to Sikhs.
Jagjit Singh Dhaliwal, a volunteer at the Gurdwara, says: “Whereas Islamophobia, antisemitism are widely recognised for specific hate crime, nothing exists for the Sikhs, but because of our dress we can become targets for hate crime exactly the same as Muslims do.
“That needs to be recognised so we can start taking some action to eradicate that.”
Jagijit Singh Dhaliwal says the government should be tackling hate crime against his community
Again, the community have expectations that Labour may address things that the Conservatives have not, but there is nothing down in print in Labour’s manifesto.
The Sikhs pride themselves on being humble, shrewd and community-minded – organising outreach projects and free food for the homeless in every Gurdwara in the country.
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“We represent the nation very well. We hold its core values and as a community we are very close-knit,” says student Rickvir Singh Randhawa.
Their wish list from politicians is not hugely expensive and, with Labour’s Muslim votes potentially depleted in certain areas over their stance on the events in Gaza, Sikhs believe their vote could become even more crucial in certain constituencies.
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Politics
It was the good, the bad and the ugly for Rishi Sunak during the latest TV election showdown
From Rishi Sunak, we saw the good, the bad and the ugly during the latest TV election showdown with other party leaders – and a tough and unforgiving audience.
The good came when he broke his silence on the Tory betting scandal early on in his half-hour session of questions, declaring he was “incredibly angry” and vowing that any law breakers would be “booted out” of his party.
The bad followed when he struggled to defend his own policy on national service for 18-year-olds and was tetchy with an audience member who asked about Brexit.
And the ugly came at the end when the audience angrily shouted “shame!” when he launched into Reform UK-style rhetoric about the European Convention on Human Rights and attacked what he called a “foreign court”.
That sort of talk may play well with right-wing MPs and activists, but it bombed here and will have alienated those voters thinking of switching to Labour or the Liberal Democrats.
So Mr Sunak started well, got bogged down in detail in the middle and then ended badly, though he eventually did manage to land some blows on Labour on tax – as he has continued to do so throughout the election campaign.
The two takeaways from the PM’s part of this election programme will be his threat to expel betting wrongdoers and his misjudging the audience on the ECHR.
But not surprisingly, that wasn’t good enough for opposition MPs.
Rishi Sunak faced tough questions from the audience
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer was challenged on a number of issues by the audience.
Immediately after the programme, Labour’s Jonathan Ashworth told Sky News Mr Sunak still has not taken any action against Tory candidates Craig Williams and Laura Saunders, who are being investigated by the Gambling Commission.
He should have suspended them immediately, as Sir Keir Starmer has demanded, Mr Ashworth said.
But despite the shouts of “shame!” from the audience on the ECHR near the end, Mr Sunak will feel that with the Tories losing votes to Nigel Farage he had to throw the Tory right and would-be Reform UK voters some red meat.
Those Tory MPs who love to hate the ECHR will no doubt have approved of Mr Sunak’s attack as far as it went – and no doubt accuse the BBC of selecting a “lefty” audience.
Before Mr Sunak, Sir Keir stumbled once again, as he did in his interview with Beth Rigby in last week’s Sky News Battle for No 10 programme in Grimsby, when asked about his support for Jeremy Corbyn.
Host Fiona Bruce repeatedly challenged Sir Keir on why he said Mr Corbyn would make a great prime minister in 2019, but the Labour leader kept dodging the question and looked shifty.
Eventually, Sir Keir said, rather lamely, that Mr Corbyn would have made a better prime minister than Boris Johnson.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer
Tories will no doubt taunt him on that claim for the rest of the campaign.
Sir Keir’s other tricky moments came when he was quizzed about his dispute with Labour MP Rosie Duffield on trans issues.
“I agree with Tony Blair,” he said. But he shunned the Canterbury MP and couldn’t bring himself to mention her name.
That was disrespectful. The Labour leader seems to have a problem with Ms Duffield. It makes him sound intolerant, which his critics would say is fair criticism.
The surprise here was a solid performance from the SNP leader John Swinney. He is less confrontational than the party’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn.
Scotland First Minister John Swinney
He has a funereal style of delivery that has previously seen him compared to an undertaker.
He could also be compared to a Church of Scotland priest reading from the prayer book, to be fair.
But he’s an old pro and a details man, as he demonstrated when answering tricky questions about the SNP performance on the NHS in Scotland and was courteous with members of the audience, even when the questions were tough.
It all began with Sir Ed Davey, who was immediately greeted with the question: “Aren’t you going to bankrupt the country?”
“No,” he replied.
Well, it would have been a shock if he’d said yes.
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Lib Dem leader Ed Davey fielding questions from the audience
The second questioner was applauded after he accused Sir Ed of breaking promises in coalition government, citing the Lib Dems’ U-turn on tuition fees.
He was also ridiculed by a member of the audience over his “horseplay” in the campaign, the stunts such as splashing around on Lake Windemere and riding on a rollercoaster at Thorpe Park in Surrey.
And inevitably, he was asked if he was proud of his record as Post Office minister during the Horizon scandal.
The questions were tough, but he dealt with them calmly. His style was that of a fireside chat.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
With four party leaders competing this was a game of four quarters.
And this tough and unforgiving audience gave the leaders no quarter.
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