Race chief calls for urgent action on integration
Britain is “sleepwalking” its way into segregation, the head of the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) warned today.
Trevor Phillips called for the end to the UK’s ‘soft’ approach to integration, saying that in its place should be a “real, active and urgent” policy of bringing communities together.
His recommendations include making schools widen their catchment area to make it more ethnically diverse; and introducing summer schools to bring together young people of different backgrounds.
Although he admits he may be accused of social engineering, Sir Trevor warned that without action, British society will become divided into “passively co-existing ethnic and religious communities, eyeing each other uneasily over the fences of our differences”.
The CRE chief’s speech in Manchester caused controversy even before it was made, with supporters of multiculturalism condemning leaked reports of his proposals as incendiary.
One delegate at this week’s Lib Dem conference in Blackpool even called for the commission chief to resign, saying his job was to calm racial tensions, not inflame them.
But Mr Phillips today insisted that the July 7th bombings in London have forced a reassessment of Britain’s attitude to ethnic minorities.
“And here is where I think we are – we are sleepwalking our way to segregation. We are becoming strangers to each other, and we are leaving communities to be marooned outside the mainstream,” he said.
He admits radical action might have to be taken to improve this situation, suggesting that schools could be forced to draw up their catchment areas “in a way that encourages integration, rather than cutting them off from others who do not share their race”.
According to the CRE, 95 per cent of white people have almost exclusively white friends, while for ethnic minority Britons this is 37 per cent, up from 31 per cent last year.
The fact that this trend was more pronounced among young people was cause for particular concern, he said, and suggested that US-style summer camps for school leavers of all backgrounds could be a way of addressing this problem.
“The fragmentation of our society by race and ethnicity is a catastrophe for all of us,” Mr Phillips warned, but insisted that integration had to be a “two-way street” in which settled communities had to be open to newcomers, and vice versa.
“In a truly integrated society, who people work with, or the friendships they make, should not be constrained by race or ethnicity,” he concluded.
“There is no doubt that Britain is facing a clear demand to make the process of integration real, active and urgent.”
