This week: Labour continues its attacks on migrants with “earned settlement”, the Commonwealth summit ends with promises of more talks but no reparations in sight, Sheffield Labour backs down over Zionism, and a Black editor quits a journalism awards panel over the shortlisting of an article about Professor Jason Arday.
Earned settlement
On 2 November, Shabana Mahmood confirmed Labour’s plans to double the wait for permanent settlement from 5 years to 10. Those earning over £50,000 and certain healthcare and education workers will retain a five-year route, while those earning over £125,000 can qualify in 3 years. Refugees who did not arrive by a legal route face 20 years, rising to 30 for those who came by small boat.
There are some exemptions. Qualifying care workers who joined the route before the May 2025 immigration White Paper and earn £25,000 will retain their five-year route. Certain other public service workers will also be covered. But the principle behind the reforms is clear: the right to a settled life will increasingly be priced by salary, while refugees face decades of insecurity. Mahmood calls this fairness.
Labour backs down in Sheffield
Last month, Sheffield’s Labour leader Fran Belbin announced plans to end the joint administration with the Greens over their party’s “Zionism is racism” motion and run the council alone. By 4 November, the day of the council meeting, Labour had reversed course.
The Sheffield Greens have not publicly disavowed the motion. Their deputy leader, Alexi Dimond, clarified that some people who identify as Zionists reject the political Zionism practised by the Israeli state and are not racist. Labour presented this as sufficient movement to continue working together. The same week, the London Assembly passed a Conservative motion condemning the Greens’ policy.
A hierarchy of racism in schools
Having accepted all twenty-seven recommendations of David Bell’s review last month, Education Secretary Lucy Powell is pushing forward with plans to encourage schools and colleges in England to adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism.
Separate Department for Education guidance says antisemitism “in and of itself, is not a Prevent concern”. The Board of Deputies and Jewish Leadership Council have criticised that guidance, calling for stronger use of Prevent and encouraging teachers to report students. Jonathan Cook argues that the Bell review builds a hierarchy of racism into schools. The NEU has also warned against addressing antisemitism without an equally clear commitment to tackling all forms of racism.
Where is the equivalent review and support for Black and Muslim students? Home Office figures published last month recorded a 15% rise in religious hate crimes targeting Muslims in England and Wales. Muslims accounted for the largest number of recorded offences against any religious group. The British Muslim Trust has recorded an attack or hate incident involving a mosque roughly every five days.
What CHOGM agreed
The Commonwealth summit in Antigua closed on 4 November. Its communiqué welcomed Britain’s agreement to a “structured, time-bound, inclusive and good-faith dialogue” on the transatlantic slave trade and its historical harms. There is no compensation mechanism, no commitment to payments, and no firm timetable (although Ed Miliband has indicated that talks could conclude within twelve months)
Britain remains open to discussing an apology while ruling out financial reparations. Alongside the talks, the UK offered £40 million over three years for Caribbean infrastructure, taken from existing budgets.
The King
In his opening address, the King said the slave trade filled him with “the most profound personal sorrow”. He did not apologise or announce reparations.
Badenoch: an apology is a “lever”
On November 1st, Kemi Badenoch said an apology “is a lever to wedge open the door to ask for cash”.
Her claim that African kingdoms should also apologise is historically illiterate. Obviously, Britains responsibility for the transatlantic trade is on a completely different level.
Operation Black Vote chair David Weaver said her remarks had caused “profound anger, hurt and disbelief” among many Black voters.
The Caribbean responds
CARICOM chair Philip J Pierre, Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, said a dialogue that begins by “placing reparations outside the room cannot be a complete dialogue”. He rejected debt relief as a substitute for reparatory justice and pointed out that most Caribbean states are classified as middle or high income, routinely excluding them from concessional debt relief.
His statement also answered the claim that today’s British population bears no personal responsibility. Reparations concern the responsibility of states and institutions, which does not disappear with the passing of generations. Britain wants an apology without liability. Caribbean leaders have to made clear that this is not the end of the matter.
Who is reviewing Cambridge?
Cambridge has appointed Jason Beer KC to chair Part Two of its Arday review, covering Professor Arday’s recruitment, treatment and support, the university’s response to allegations against him, and its handling of race equality and disability.
Beer has quite the record representing police forces. He acted for the Metropolitan Police at the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry and in litigation over the self-defence test in disciplinary proceedings involving the officer who shot Jermaine Baker.
Whether a barrister with that record is the right person to examine Cambridge’s treatment of a Black academic is a fair question.
Black editor quits journalism awards panel
Joy Coker, editor of Alt A Review and founder of the Black British Journalism Awards, has resigned from the British Journalism Awards judging panel after Times Higher Education’s Jack Grove was shortlisted for an opinion piece about his enquiries into Prof Arday.
Coker wasn’t judging his category. However, she said she could not remain on a panel while unable to support the decision behind the awards. The awards organisers have defended the nomination.
Oxford University
More than twenty thousand people have signed the petition demanding that Oriel College cancel Nathan Cofnas’s appearance on 17 November. The campaign was initiated by Oxford students with support from BLM UK, Everyday Racism and Stand Up To Racism.
A protest is planned at 5 pm outside Oriel College, if the event goes ahead.
Mahama: Africa and the Caribbean together
At CHOGM, Ghana’s President John Mahama proposed linking the African Continental Free Trade Area with CARICOM to create a larger trading bloc. In talks with the Prime Minister of the Bahamas, he called for direct flights, port-to-port shipping and an exchange of labour and expertise between the two regions.
France: a racist terrorist attack
Further reporting on the shootings in Trappes and La Verrière on 23 October underlines the racist targeting behind the attack. Prosecutors say the suspect admitted targeting people he believed to be Muslim, African or North African. One person was killed, and others were wounded, including a twelve-year-old girl. Macron described it as a racist terrorist attack.
United States: Islamophobia backfired
Democrats won both the House and the Senate in the midterms on November 3rd. One of the clearest defeats for the far right came in Michigan, where Abdul El-Sayed beat Republican Mike Rogers to become the first Muslim elected to the US Senate.
He won against a campaign of open Islamophobia. Trump called him a “jihadist”, while Republicans tried to tie him to the Muslim Brotherhood without evidence. El-Sayed opposed US military aid to Israel and the Gaza genocide. He still won a state Trump carried in 2024.
He was not alone. At least seven Muslims were elected to Congress, a record. They include Adam Hamawy, a surgeon who has worked in Gaza and became New Jersey’s first Muslim member of Congress, and Darializa Avila Chevalier in New York, the first Latina Muslim elected to Congress.
CAIR counted 97 Muslims who won their races across federal, state and local elections, with another fifteen candidates leading in races still to be called. Meanwhile, JD Vance said the “obvious” reason Republicans lost was the Iran war.
The above article was originally published here on the For Liberation, Against Racism blog. To follow the For Liberation, Against Racism blog – subscribe here .