Don’t shy away from race issues

BRITAIN could “sleepwalk to a catastrophe” unless it takes “a more muscular” approach to tackling the divisions which large-scale immigration has opened up, a former equalities watchdog has warned.

Trevor Phillips forecast conflict between communities and the undermining of our rights and values.

He says Britain must abandon “squeamishness, complacency and liberal self-delusion” about problems which racial, religious and cultural differences can produce.

He recommended ensuring English was the standard working language, requiring public bodies to promote integration and curbing limits on free speech.

His rallying cry is part of a pamphlet, Race And Faith: The Deafening Silence, which is published today by think tank Civitas.

The writer and TV producer, a former chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, argued that Britain was living in a new era of “super-diversity” with different groups of people arriving in greater numbers.

Britain was “not a racist nation” but reluctance to discuss race, ethnicity and cultural difference had weakened its ability to deal with extremism, terrorism and segregation, he said.