How running for office in UK local elections helped me, a mainland immigrant, feel accepted by British society

Stereotypes about British people being racist persist but voters, it seems, don’t care about a candidate’s looks, accent or whether they are an immigrant

Yue Parkinson

Published: 3:30am, 14 May 2023

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The experience of running for office in this month’s UK local elections was a profound and quick way to dispel a stereotype that had existed in my mind for many years – that the British look equal but are actually deeply racist. I was surprised and heartened to discover that the British electorate really did not care about my looks and accent.

Before I started canvassing, my biggest concern was my immigrant status and my accent. As soon as I opened my mouth, my strong Chinese accent showed I was a first-generation immigrant. Had I not been unexpectedly invited to stand for election, I would not have considered myself eligible to be a candidate for the local elections.

I have not experienced much racial discrimination in British society in the almost 20 years I have been here, something I have always found surprising and admirable in the progress of equality in the UK.

However, my interactions with the mothers of my children’s classmates have led me to believe that, in general, British people deliberately ignore my presence and don’t want to talk to me. I met other mothers every day when dropping off and picking up my children from primary school. It was not a comfortable experience; most deliberately ignored me.

Was I just being paranoid? I don’t think so. I proactively sought to engage them, testing the waters with my eyes, but there was no response. Those few mothers who were willing to interact took the initiative and waved or said hello.

Apart from those who turned a blind eye, I still remember the reaction of two mothers when I tried to be friendly and talk to them one day some 10 years ago. They acted as if they had been insulted, their faces flushed red and, while being polite, answered as if they were talking to a lesser species.

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Many years have passed, but these unpleasant experiences have stayed with me. I have often travelled to London for work and to meet friends, and I hoped that when my children had left school, I could move to London with my husband.

The view of most first-generation Chinese immigrants that the city is superior to the countryside and suburbs has, for me, slowly transformed. My time in the UK has taught me that there is little distinction between urban and rural areas here.

I aspire to the colourful lifestyle and international atmosphere of London. Probably 95 per cent of the population in the town where I live haven’t had much exposure to immigrants, so the level of acceptance is much weaker than in the capital.

Even though I have lived there for 15 years, I have never felt I belonged and feel I am useless to the town and have not made many British friends. Of course, much of my focus has been on London, and my failure to make many British friends is down to my lack of effort to put down roots in a small community.

But this election has changed me. Many first-generation mainland Chinese immigrants support the Conservative Party in elections. In fact, I took the initiative and left a message on the Conservative Party website 15 years ago, expressing my support. The next day, a party representative called, only to find I had lost my voice thanks to a cold and could only utter a hoarse, incoherent response. They never contacted me again.

The reason many mainland Chinese support the Conservatives is simple: it has been the ruling party for 13 years. According to pragmatic mainlanders, any beliefs and principles can give way to power. What’s more, the UK has developed into a country of equality and fairness, while many first-generation mainland immigrants still believe everything is about money and power.

My political stance is now somewhere between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. This March, I joined the Lib Dems through the Chinese Liberal Democrats in the UK. Subsequently, I was introduced to Huw James, our local Liberal Democrat councillor and, soon afterwards, I received an email inviting me to stand for election. This was a delightful surprise, as I hadn’t even been sure I was eligible to run.

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Once canvassing began, my concerns about whether voters cared about my Asian immigrant status quickly disappeared. In talking to people, I felt I was a candidate in their eyes and my background did not seem to be a concern. Perhaps because I was the Lib Dem candidate, the voters trusted me straightaway.

I was heartened by this. Perhaps it was also because my English had become so fluent that I could speak off the cuff and no longer needed to translate from Chinese to English in my mind. Plus, I am familiar enough with British society and culture that the chatter was local, the language was local and my jokes even made voters laugh.

On polling day, I still worried that voters would not trust my foreign face when it came to making a final decision. Because the vote is anonymous, there was no way to know their real choice.

But the results were encouraging. Although the Conservatives won in my ward, I finished second, only 89 votes behind. The result has greatly cheered me. I realise I was accepted by the electorate. British society has welcomed me and there is a future for me in the UK.

Yue Parkinson is a freelancer writer and bilingual author of China and the West: Unravelling 100 Years of Misunderstanding, and China’s Ukraine Dilemma: The Shaping of a New World Order