Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities

British government commission on race and ethnic disparities, active from 2020 to 2021

Front cover of the 31 March 2021 report of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities

The Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities (CRED) was a UK Government commission supported by the Race Disparity Unit of the Cabinet Office. It was established in 2020 in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests following the murder of George Floyd.[1] Boris Johnson gave it the brief of investigating race and ethnic disparities in the UK. Johnson argued that the UK needed to consider important questions about race relations and disparities and that a thorough examination of why so many disparities persist and what needed to be done to work out to eliminate or mitigate them.

Commission members were recruited by political adviser Munira Mirza, who has previously denied the existence of structural and institutional racism.[2][3] The members were Tony Sewell (who was appointed in July 2020 to lead the Commission), Maggie Aderin-Pocock, Aftab Chughtai, Keith Fraser, Ajay Kakkar, Naureen Khalid, Dambisa Moyo, Mercy Muroki, Martyn Oliver, Samir Shah and Kunle Olulode.[4][5] The Observer reported that the members did not write all of the report, nor was it made available in full to them prior to publication.[6]

The commission published its report in March 2021, the content of which caused considerable controversy.[7][8][9][10][11] The report concluded that the "claim the country is still institutionally racist is not borne out by the evidence", but some experts complained that the report misrepresented evidence, and that recommendations from ethnic minority business leaders who contributed were ignored.[12] Seun Matiluko has written that CRED "would become one of the most controversial government commissions of the 21st century".[11] Additionally, a section on the Caribbean slave trade was amended, following widespread criticism that it glorified the practice and downplayed its negative effects.[13][14]

## Members

[edit]

Commission members were recruited by political adviser Munira Mirza, who has previously denied the existence of structural and institutional racism.[2][3]

* Tony Sewell, who led the Commission was running the charity Generating Genius and had previously worked with Boris Johnson during his mayorship of London. The BBC described him as a "longstanding commentator on racial issues and education" who had attracted criticism for some of some comments including that lessons were too "feminised", Afro-Caribbean culture was "anti-intellectual" and that "much of the supposed evidence of institutional racism is flimsy".[1]
* Maggie Aderin-Pocock, a space scientist and presenter of the BBC programme The Sky at Night.[1]
* Aftab Chughtai, the owner of a Birmingham department store and cofounder of the pro-Brexit group Muslims for Britain.[1][15][16]
* Keith Fraser, a former police officer and chair of the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales.[1]
* Ajay Kakkar, a Professor of Surgery at University College London.[1]
* Naureen Khalid, a co-founder of UkGovChat, an online forum for school governors.[1]
* Dambisa Moyo, an economist and author.[1]
* Mercy Muroki, a researcher at the Centre for Social Justice think tank.[17]
* Martyn Oliver, CEO of the Outwood Grange Academies Trust.[1]
* Samir Shah, a former journalist and former chair of The Runnymede Trust.[1]
* Kunle Olulode, an anti-racism activist and director of the charity Voice4Change.[6]

## Reactions

[edit]

### Political

[edit]

Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour Party, said that he was "disappointed" by the Commission's report.[18][19]

Isabelle Parasram, vice president of the Liberal Democrats, issued a statement that the Commission had "missed the opportunity to make a clear, bold statement on the state of race equality in this country". Parasram said that the "evidence and impact of racism in the UK is overwhelming" and that "whilst some of recommendations made in the report are helpful, they fall far short of what could have been achieved".[20]

The Green Party of England and Wales issued a statement condemning the summary of the report as "a deliberate attempt to whitewash institutional racism" and that "Institutional racism in the UK does exist".[21]

In March 2022, the government announced a series of policy measures intended to address racial disparities, informed by the report. The action plan is called Inclusive Britain.[22]

### Other

[edit]

Rose Hudson-Wilkin, the Bishop of Dover, described the report as "deeply disturbing"; she said the “lived experience” of the people “tells a different story to that being shared by this report”.[23]

The historian David Olusoga accused the report's authors of appearing to prefer "history to be swept under the carpet" and compared it to the Trump-era 1776 Commission.[24]

A Guardian editorial quoted Boris Johnson's intent to "change the narrative so we stop the sense of victimisation and discrimination"[25] when setting up the commission, and as evidence of the reality of racial inequality listed five recent government reports on different aspects:[26]

* the criminal justice system (the David Lammy review of 2017[27][28]);
* schools, courts, and the workplace (the Theresa May race audit of 2017[29]);
* pay (the Ruby McGregor-Smith review of 2017[30][31]);
* deaths in police custody (the Elish Angiolini report of 2017[32]);
* the Windrush scandal (the Wendy Williams review of 2020[33][34]).

David Goodhart from the right-wing think tank Policy Exchange welcomed the report as "a game-changer for how Britain talks about race".[35]

In an article analysing the report in the journal Ethnicities, Leon Tikly, the UNESCO Chair in Good Quality Education at the University of Bristol, focused on the report's "spurious claims to objectivity, the erasure of racism and the inadequacy of its recommendations". Tikly wrote that "[t]hrough advocating a 'colourblind' approach to education policy and the selective appropriation of multicultural discourse", the report "needs to be understood as part of a wider effort to reconfigure the nationalist project in response to crisis". Tikly did, however, argue that "despite its many flaws, the Sewell report poses challenges for those who have traditionally been aligned to multiculturalism and antiracism in education".[36]

In a response to the report published in BMJ Opinion, medical scholars Mohammad S. Razai, Azeem Majeed and Aneez Esmail argued that "the report’s conclusions, recommendations, and cherry-picked data to support a particular narrative shows why it should have been externally peer reviewed by independent health experts and scientists", and noted the absence of any health experts or biomedical scientists among its authors. Razai, Majeed and Esmail argued that the report's conclusions were reached by ignoring evidence identifying systemic racism as a cause of ethnic differences in socioeconomic status, and characterised the report's claims about COVID-19 as unsupported, and its claims about life expectancy as false and contradictory. The authors concluded that the report was "more suitable as a political manifesto rather than an authoritative expert report."[37][38]

Several individuals and institutions identified by the report's authors as having conducted research for the report, including The King's Fund and the historians Stephen Bourne and S. I. Martin, said after its publication that they had not conducted research specifically for the commission. Bourne said he had been identified as a "stakeholder" after identifying a roundtable discussion, and had not known the purpose of the event or that the report was being compiled.[39]

The UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent issued a statement categorically rejecting and condemning the analysis and findings of the report.[40]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Charity boss Tony Sewell to head government race commission". BBC News. 16 July 2020. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
2. ^ a b "Dismay as No 10 adviser is chosen to set up UK race inequality commission". the Guardian. 15 June 2020. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
3. ^ a b "Race report: Was controversy part of the plan?". BBC News. 3 April 2021. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
4. ^ "Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities". GOV.UK.
5. ^ Thomas, Tobi; Mohdin, Aamna (March 31, 2021). "Racial disparities in the UK: the people who compiled the report" - via www.theguardian.com.
6. ^ a b Iqbal, Nosheen (11 April 2021). "Downing Street rewrote 'independent' report on race, experts claim". The Observer. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
7. ^ "Windrush campaigners alarmed by omissions of No 10 race report". the Guardian. April 2, 2021.
8. ^ "Editorial: The government's race report is an exercise in gaslighting". The Independent. April 1, 2021.
9. ^ "Race report: 'UK not deliberately rigged against ethnic minorities'". March 31, 2021 - via www.bbc.co.uk.
10. ^ Neilan, Catherine; Diver, Tony (March 31, 2021). "Race report 'reluctant to accept structural issues', says Sir Keir Starmer" - via www.telegraph.co.uk.
11. ^ a b Matiluko, Seun (7 January 2023). "Truth, lies and racism: The story behind the "Sewell Report"". The House. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
12. ^ Savage, Michael; Iqbal, Nosheen (4 April 2021). "Race report boss wanted schools to teach 'the truth' about modern Britain". The Observer. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
13. ^ Aamna Mohdin (2021-04-30). "UK race commission amends line on slave trade after criticism". Guardian.
14. ^ Simon Murphy, Eleni Courea (2021-03-31). "Backlash over Sewell report slavery claim". The Times.
15. ^ "Aftab Chughtai MBE". GOV.UK. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
16. ^ Walker, Jonathan (16 July 2020). "Birmingham businessman appointed to Boris' commission to end racial inequality". BirminghamLive. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
17. ^ "Mercy Muroki". GOV.UK. 16 July 2020. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
18. ^ Neilan, Catherine; Diver, Tony (31 March 2021). "Race report 'reluctant to accept structural issues', says Sir Keir Starmer". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
19. ^ "Race report: 'UK not deliberately rigged against ethnic minorities'". BBC News. 31 March 2021. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
20. ^ Parasram, Isabelle. "Statement on the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities". Liberal Democrats. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
21. ^ "Greens are clear: Institutional racism in the UK does exist". Green Party of England and Wales. 31 March 2021. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
22. ^ Campbell, Adina (17 March 2022). "Long-term plan to tackle racial disparity in UK". BBC News. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
23. ^ Pat, Ashworth (2 April 2021). "Commission's report on race 'deeply disturbing' says Bishop of Dover". Church Times. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
24. ^ Quinn, Ben; Parveen, Nazia (2 April 2021). "Historian David Olusoga joins academic criticism of No 10's race report". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
25. ^ Honeycombe-Foster, Matt (15 June 2020). "Boris Johnson launches fresh review into racial inequality in wake of Black Lives Matters protests". PoliticsHome. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
26. ^ "The Guardian view on Boris Johnson's race review: you cannot be serious". The Guardian. 31 March 2021. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
27. ^ Bowcott, Owen; Dodd, Vikram (8 September 2017). "Exposed: 'racial bias' in England and Wales criminal justice system". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
28. ^ Lammy, David (8 September 2017). "Lammy review: final report". gov.uk. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
29. ^ Asthana, Anushka; Bengtsson, Helena (9 October 2017). "Audit lays bare racial disparities in UK schools, courts and workplaces". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
30. ^ "Race in the workplace: The McGregor-Smith Review". GOV.UK. Retrieved 2018-07-20.
31. ^ Burt, Emily. "Government urges employers to publish ethnicity pay gap as it launches equality review". People Management. Retrieved 2018-07-20.
32. ^ Allison, Eric; Hattenstone, Simon (2 November 2017). "Now we know the shocking facts of deaths in custody, will Theresa May act? - Eric Allison and Simon Hattenstone". Theguardian.com. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
33. ^ Gentleman, Amelia (14 October 2020). "Windrush report author attacks Home Office's response". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
34. ^ Williams, Wendy (31 March 2020). "Windrush Lessons Learned Review by Wendy Williams". gov.uk.
35. ^ "The Sewell commission is a game-changer for how Britain talks about race". Policy Exchange. 2021-03-31. Retrieved 2021-04-09.
36. ^ Tikly, Leon (2022). "Racial formation and education: A critical analysis of the Sewell report". Ethnicities. 22 (6): 857–881. doi:10.1177/14687968211061882. hdl:1983/c138bb0c-bd68-488c-9655-ecc699ab5d54.
37. ^ Razai, Mohammad S.; Majeed, Azeem; Esmail, Aneez (31 March 2021). "Structural racism is a fundamental cause and driver of ethnic disparities in health". BMJ Opinion. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
38. ^ Mahon, Leah (1 April 2021). "British Medical Journal warns that the government's race report is "a missed opportunity" to tackle disparities in healthcare among ethnic minorities". The Voice. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
39. ^ Mohdin, Aamna (1 April 2021). "Experts cited in No 10's race report claim they were not properly consulted". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 August 2022.
40. ^ "UN Experts Condemn UK Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities Report". Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. 2021-04-19.

## External links

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* Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities website
* The report of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities 31 March 2021
* Statement from the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities on the report published 31 March 2021 2 April 2021

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