Leading think tank Policy Exchange has announced new appointments to lead its Diverse Communities Unit. Kulveer Ranger will be the new head of the unit. He takes over from Rishi Sunak who was elected as the Conservative MP for Richmond at the general election.
Ranger has a background in politics and business. In 2008, he was appointed by the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, to lead City Hall’s work on transport policy. He advised on a range of transport and infrastructure projects including the £14bn Crossrail scheme. He played an integral role in the development of the new Routemaster Bus and led the delivery of the successful ‘Boris Bike’ cycle hire scheme. Ranger also sat on the international steering group for the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group and established the Mayor’s digital strategy focusing on the growth of the ‘Tech City’ cluster in East London. Prior to joining City Hall, Ranger spent over a decade in management consultancy.
Ranger will be supported by a Deputy – Mayuri Parmar. Parmar is currently the Director of the Conservative Friends of India, managing the day to day running of the organisation. Prior to this, Mayuri was a business consultant and also worked briefly in the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit.
The Diverse Communities Unit’s inaugural project, A Portrait of Modern Britain, received widespread praise from across the political spectrum and the paper was launched at an event at Policy Exchange with Rt Hon David Lammy MP, one of Labour’s Mayoral hopefuls. The report examined the political attitudes of BME communities, investigating how these attitudes are formed, how they are applied during elections, and how they are likely to shift over time – looking in detail at issues such as the life experience of BME voters and how they differ from the rest of the population, including within their own communities.
Ranger and Parmar will be looking to develop the next stage of the unit’s research programme with a particular focus on how the Government can meet the challenge set by the Prime Minister before the election – getting 20 per cent more black and ethnic minority people in employment by 2020. The unit will also continue to look in detail at the differences that exist between different minority groups – their life experiences and their outlook on life – and how to overcome any particular barriers to social and economic progress that might exist.
Kulveer Ranger, Head of the Diverse Communities Unit at Policy Exchange, said,
“I am delighted to have been asked to lead the work of the Diverse Communities Unit. Modern Britain continues to evolve with an ever increasingly diverse and complex electorate. The political establishment has the challenge of engaging, understanding and responding with policies to the meet the needs and aspirations of all communities, whilst maintaining ‘British values’ as a core foundation for the country. I hope our work will enable politicians and all communities to be better informed and therefore better placed to deliver policies that will help to both unite us and improve lives.”
ENDS