Johnson launches commission to tackle racism in the UK
Boris Johnson has announced a cross-government commission to examine racial inequality in the UK following weeks of Black Lives Matter protests.
Writing in the Telegraph, the Prime Minister said “no-one who cares about this country” could ignore the anti-racist protests that have swept the country in response to the killing of George Floyd last month.
“What I really want to do as Prime Minister is change the narrative, so we stop the sense of victimisation and discrimination,” he said.
“We stop the discrimination, we stamp out racism and we start to have a real sense of expectation of success. But it won’t be easy. We’ll have to look very carefully at the real racism and discrimination that people face.”
The PM said the commission will look at “all aspects of inequality — in employment, in health outcomes, in academic and all other walks of life.”
Government backlash
Shadow women and equalities secretary Marsha de Cordova described Johnson’s reference to victimisation as “condescending” and said it was “designed to let himself and his government off the hook”.
Labour MP and shadow justice secretary David Lammy added that it was time for action, not review.
“Black people aren’t playing victim, as Boris indicated,” he said. “I don’t know why he’s announced a commission behind a paywall in the Telegraph in yet another article about Churchill… Get on with the action. Legislate. Move. You’re in government — do something.”
Johnson’s article has subsequently been published on the official government website.
The commission will be overseen by equalities minister Kemi Badenoch, but a chair has not yet been chosen. Johnson’s spokesman today said that work to establish the commission had already begun, and a report on findings and recommendations was expected by the end of the year.
Lammy said the announcement lacked detail because it was “written on the back of a fag packet yesterday to assuage the Black Lives Matter protest”.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission this morning slammed Johnson’s move to launch a review, saying: “We know the scale of the problems we face to tackle the entrenched racial inequality in our country.”
“It is not new. There have been countless reporters and the data exists exposing all the issues. Now is the time for urgent action.”
Weeks of protests
It comes after demonstrations in London this weekend descended into violence after protestors clashed with police and more than 100 people were arrested.
Members of the Democratic Football Lads Association and other right-wing movements travelled to the capital with the ostensible aim of defending statues of British war heroes from potential vandalism, but soon erupted into violence.
Johnson condemned the “far-right thugs”, adding that their mission was “utterly absurd” and that it was “deplorable” that Sir Winston Churchill’s statue had been in danger.
The statue of the former Prime Minister and various other monuments in Westminster were boarded up ahead of protests last weekend, after being graffitied in Black Lives Matter demonstrations the week before.
Johnson called for British heritage to be left “broadly in peace”, adding: “We need to tackle the substance of the problem, not the symbols.”
Last week the PM denounced the “criminal act” that saw protesters tear down a statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol.
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