New mayor ‘must work to integrate’ communities Report talks of need to tackle ‘difficult and sensitive issue’
THE new metro mayor of the West Midlands must tackle integration after a report revealed some inner-city Muslim children never meet people from a nonIslamic background.
The report from the British Future think tank said whoever the new mayor will be faces a major challenge to bring the multi-cultural West Midlands population together.
It warns that failure to do so could lead to a repeat of the 2014 Trojan Horse scandal which “divided the city, damaged the image of Birmingham and polarised the debate about integration”.
It states that a deputy mayor focused on the social integration and citizenship agenda would help the mayor tackle similar issues before they arise and use the region’s 11,000 voluntary groups to forge greater social links.
Sutton Coldfield MP Andrew Mitchell, Edgbaston MP Gisela Stuart and a range of civic and community leaders all backed the call in an open letter to the mayoral candidates, printed today in the Birmingham Post. It highlights a number of issues: The white population is ageing and increasingly secular, while minority ethnic groups are younger and more religious;
The degree of political polarisation post Brexit ;
The West Midlands is one of the most diverse regions in Europe and cuts across three different cities;
Some very wealthy areas next to highly deprived areas;
Suburban Birmingham areas including Sutton Coldfield, Longbridge and Kings Norton are largely white, while inner city areas are dominated by south Asian Muslims;
16.3 per cent of working-age people have no qualifications (UK average is eight per cent);
28.3 per cent have higher-level qualifications (UK rate is 37 per cent);
Black Caribbean, Pakistani and Bangladeshi backgrounds are more likely to be unemployed than other groups;
70 per cent of Bangladeshi and Pakistani women are economically inactive – as well as lacking skills they also face cultural barriers to employment.
The report states that south Asian Muslim communities, compared to other minority faith groups, have a higher level of segregation in terms of both where they live and work and children grow up with little experience of people of other backgrounds.
It said: “The new mayor will face are some difficult and sensitive integration issues.
“These may include diverse and strongly-held opinions about the setting up of new faith-based schools, regressive attitudes to gender equality and sexuality, hate crime and religious extremism.
“It is essential these issues are discussed openly and resolved constructively.”
The report also calls for a deputy mayor to lead consultation with communities, target part of the skills budget at Muslim women and develop projects to encourage children to mix with other communities. Sunder Katwala, director of British Future, said: “The new mayor of the West Midlands, whether that’s Andy Street or Siôn Simon, has an opportunity to lead the way on integration and show the rest of the country how to make it work. But it won’t just happen on its own.
“The new city-region needs someone who will champion integration and push others in local government to make it a priority.”
Andrew Mitchell, Conservative MP for Sutton Coldfield, added: “Making sure the West Midlands is a well-integrated place to live and work is vitally important and will need strong leadership right from the top.
“That is a challenge to which every party must respond. I support the call for a deputy mayor to champion this agenda.”