Brent South
Labour hold

The seat with the highest percentage of non white residents anywhere in the UK according to the 1991 Census, it is appropriate that it is represented by Paul Boateng, who may during 2001 become the first black Cabinet Minister. The balance of ethnic groups is fairly equal: the seat is about a quarter Asian and a quarter Afro-Caribbean. There are also a wide variety of other influences too of course, but overall this is a very safe Labour seat, in the part of Brent most typical of the inner city, from Wembley to the boundaries with the City of Westminster.

Paul Boateng, Britain's first half-black Minister, and currently, as Jack Straw's Home Office deputy, the country's highest-ranking non-white politician, is also by far the most successful of the clutch of (originally) left wing MPs to have emerged from Ken Livingstone's GLC of the early 'eighties, as a listing of the rest of them will confirm - Tony Banks, John McDonnell, and Livingstone himself. Greeting his victory here in 1987 with the rhetorically radical shout of "Today Brent South, Tomorrow Soweto!", his modishly-tailored rise has been relentless since his swift entry to the front bench within two years of reaching the Commons. A solicitor-turned-barrister of mixed Scots-Ghanaian parentage, born 1951 and educated at Accra Academy, Apsley Grammar School and Bristol University, he is a smoothly self-confident performer, and because less accident-prone than the equally smooth Asian minister Keith Vaz, should be the first non-white Cabinet Minister.

Greater London Labour Party

London Liberal Democrats

Brent Council

Area Percent GB Percent Index GB=100   Thriving Wealthy Achievers, Suburban Areas 0.00% 14.99% 0.00 Affluent Greys, Rural Communities 0.00% 2.13% 0.00 Prosperous Pensioners, Retirement Areas 0.20% 2.49% 7.87 Expanding Affluent Executives, Family Areas 0.00% 4.43% 0.00 Well-Off Workers, Family Areas 0.00% 7.27% 0.00 Rising Affluent Urbanites, Town & City Areas 2.50% 2.56% 97.61 Prosperous Professionals, Metropolitan Areas 0.38% 2.04% 18.65 Better-Off Executives, Inner City Areas 18.32% 3.94% 464.42 Settling Comfortable Middle Agers, Mature Home Owning Areas 0.39% 13.04% 2.99 Skilled Workers, Home Owning Areas 0.00% 12.70% 0.00 Aspiring New Home Owners, Mature Communities 0.00% 8.14% 0.00 White Collar Workers, Better-Off Multi Ethnic Areas 40.01% 4.02% 994.76 Striving Older People, Less Prosperous Areas 0.00% 3.19% 0.00 Council Estate Residents, Better-Off Homes 2.25% 11.31% 19.92 Council Estate Residents, High Unemployment 3.47% 3.06% 113.43 Council Estate Residents, Greatest Hardship 0.00% 2.52% 0.14 People in Multi-Ethnic, Low-Income Areas 32.48% 2.10% 1,546.63 Unclassified Unclassified 0.00% 0.06% 0.00

Area Percent GB Percent Index GB=100   £0-5K 7.38% 9.41% 78.41 £5-10K 14.86% 16.63% 89.34 £10-15K 16.28% 16.58% 98.22 £15-20K 14.23% 13.58% 104.75 £20-25K 11.33% 10.39% 109.01 £25-30K 8.66% 7.77% 111.39 £30-35K 6.50% 5.79% 112.30 £35-40K 4.86% 4.33% 112.15 £40-45K 3.63% 3.27% 111.23 £45-50K 2.73% 2.48% 109.78 £50-55K 2.06% 1.90% 108.00 £55-60K 1.56% 1.47% 105.99 £60-65K 1.20% 1.15% 103.86 £65-70K 0.92% 0.91% 101.67 £70-75K 0.72% 0.72% 99.46 £75-80K 0.56% 0.57% 97.28 £80-85K 0.44% 0.46% 95.13 £85-90K 0.35% 0.37% 93.03 £90-95K 0.28% 0.31% 91.00 £95-100K 0.22% 0.25% 89.04 £100K + 1.05% 1.34% 77.95