A report by New Labour's multiculturalism mentor believes education, political and judicial institutions have failed to tackle racism.
Racism is endemic across society's highest echelons, from the police to the judiciary, politics and education, according to Lord Parekh, chairman of a groundbreaking report that shaped much of New Labour's policy on multiculturalism.
Heralded as "the most important contribution to the national debate on racial discrimination for many years" when it was launched in 2000 by the then home secretary Jack Straw, the Commission on the Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain led to the reform of Britain's social, cultural and political institutions.
But Parekh has admitted that he is disappointed by sections of the upper tiers of many institutions in their failure to tackle racism in the 10 years since the report.
"Ethnic minority representation in the higher echelons of the judiciary, civil service, heads of universities, and cabinet is quite small," he said. "Although there are, happily, 24 black and ethnic minority MPs, their number does not reflect their presence in society. The ethnic minority representation in NHS trusts and CEOs of hospitals is extremely small, even though ethnic minorities provide nearly a quarter of our doctors.
"Look at the heads of our diplomatic missions abroad. Ethnic minorities there are negligible, just less than 2%. As a result, Britain presents a predominantly white profile abroad, which we cannot afford when we seek close trade ties with India and China."
Parekh was talking to the Guardian before a speech at the London School of Economics tomorrow evening, in which he will revisit the issue of multiculturalism for the first time since 2000. He said government cuts would increase racial discrimination and could lead to unrest.
"The coalition government's policy is disturbing," he said. "They are in danger of dismantling the advances we have worked so hard to achieve over the last decade by their determination to implement cuts that will disproportionately impact disadvantaged, black and ethnic minority communities."
Parekh said cuts to education and health, and restrictions in funding at local level, could lead to "alienation, protest and communities feeling under siege. Cuts like these will be a serious mistake," he said.
Parekh stressed that "there is no question of intentional discrimination" in the services offered by the judicial, political and other institutions that he criticises.
"However, the virtual absence of ethnic minority representation in their highest rungs matters greatly," he said. "It influences the problems they address, and the way they allocate their scarce resources. It also affects the organisation's ability to uncover its own hidden biases.
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, a journalist on the original commission, said Parekh's criticisms did not go far enough."I look around every single institution in Britain and I see a white man's world," she said. "I'm not saying people in power in these institutions are sitting around being racist but they are sitting around making decisions that continue to create a highly discriminatory and unrepresentative world.
The Guardian
