Boris pledge on new inequality review
BORIS Johnson vows his drive to tackle racial inequality in Britain will deliver results by the end of the year.
The Prime Minister pledged the new Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities would look at all aspects of discrimination, including criminal justice and education.
He said there remained “much more we need to do” to tackle racism but criticised attempts to “rewrite the past” by removing statues.
The commission will report directly to the PM and be overseen by Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch.
The move comes amid the global Black Lives Matter protests, sparked by the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in the United States.
Mr Johnson said: “I want to change the narrative so we stop the sense of victimisation and discrimination.
“The point of having a review is to look at the areas where people feel there’s more that needs to be done.
“We stamp out racism and we start to have a real expectation of success.”
David Isaac, chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said “urgent action” was needed and he hoped the new body would help deliver a “comprehensive race strategy”.
But shadow justice secretary David Lammy hit out at Mr Johnson.
He said: “If he was serious, why are there no details about how it will be staffed, its remit, its terms of reference, its timetable? It’s because this was written on the back of a fag packet yesterday to assuage the Black Lives Matter protest.
“Get on with the action. You’re in Government, do something.”
The launch of the review comes amid a bitter row over UK statues.
Parliament Square’s memorial to wartime leader Sir Winston Churchill was daubed with the word “racist” during protests last week.
Other monuments have been targeted for slave trade links.
But Mr Johnson said Britain could not “photoshop” its cultural history – and he added: “I will resist with every breath in my body any attempt to remove that statue.”