The head of a race equality thinktank has accused the government of pursuing a divisive “white nationalist” agenda as it prioritised the white working class at the expense of ethnic minorities in an attempt to win votes.
Recently appointed director of the Runnymede Trust, Halima Begum in her interview with The Guardian stated that ministers had failed to respond meaningfully to the “seismic shifts” represented by Black Lives Matters (BLM) protests and the disproportionate effect of Covid-19 on black, Asian minority ethnic (BAME) Britons.
She said, “I think the government’s long-term plan is to work up white nationalism for the next elections. What we should be saying is that working-class black and white communities have been left behind, because they’ve seen industries demolished in the north of this country. We haven’t seen the economies built back, we haven’t seen investment in our education system for years so that our black, white and Asian working-class children will thrive. What I see instead is the Conservatives pushing through [a narrative of] a white working class that’s been left behind, which by the way is where [Donald] Trump was at about six years ago.”
She alleges the government of being slow in addressing the increased risk to ethnic minorities from Covid-19 and had used BAME appointments to its commission on race and ethnic disparities. It also followed the same pattern of appointments to ministerial roles to propagate its denial of structural racism, citing as an example the equalities minister Kemi Badenoch's dismissal of non-existence of racial divides.
According to her while white working-class communities were disadvantaged, “they are not discriminated against because of the colour of their skin and that is what we mean by structural racism”.
