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by Lamiat Sabin
BLACK and minority ethnic (BME) people in Britain still suffer “entrenched” inequality but the government has done little to tackle it, a rights watchdog warned yesterday.
An Equality and Human Rights Commission review dug up “alarming” findings in problem areas including education, employment, housing, pay, health and criminal justice.
It found that in England black people are at least three times more likely to be killed than white people.
Unemployment rates were “significantly higher” for ethnic minorities and they were more likely to live in poverty.
Black workers with degrees still earn 23.1 per cent less on average than their white counterparts with the same qualifications and are still “hugely underrepresented” in positions of power such as among judges and MPs.
The watchdog also found that black women are four times more likely to be sectioned under the Mental Health Act than white women, with mixed-race women almost seven times more likely.
Also, poorer white communities — especially boys who get free school meals — face “continuing disadvantage,” the report named Healing a Divided Britain added.
Tory government attempts to tackle the problem have been dismissed as “more one-nation platitudes than policies,” by commission chairman David Isaac.
He added: “We must redouble our efforts to tackle race inequality urgently or risk the divisions in our society growing and racial tensions increasing.
“If you are black or an ethnic minority in modern Britain, it can often still feel like you’re living in a different world, never mind being part of a one-nation society.”
Mr Isaac called for the government to introduce a comprehensive and coherent race equality strategy led by one secretary of state, because recent policies to improve the lives of BME communities have been “stuttering.”
Shadow women and equalities secretary Angela Rayner said Labour’s pledges to reinstate student grants and EMA for college and sixth-form pupils would “remove the debilitating Tory tax on aspiration” for those who would otherwise not be able to afford going on to higher education.
Green Party leader Natalie Bennett said: “Great talent remains untapped in Britain because of inequality, while many communities face poverty, exclusion and marginalisation.”
A government spokeswoman said ministers were “committed to making Britain a country that works for everyone” but that “there is clearly more to do” to improve employment, education and social mobility.
