Two thirds of ethnic minority people believe they face discrimination in UK

A majority of all groups agreed there needs to be 'much more progress on race in the next 25 years'

Almost half of white British respondents and 60 per cent of ethnic minorities said they believe it is easier to live in Britain if you are white. AFP
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About two thirds of ethnic minorities in Britain suffer discrimination in their everyday lives, a study published on Wednesday found.

But many of them also believe life is better in Britain than in the US, famous as the “melting pot” of cultures, or Germany, known for immigrant-friendly policies.

The British Future think tank says it has sought to gather a “state of the nation” picture of public attitudes on race, identity and prejudice.

The study questioned about 2,500 people – 1,000 from an ethnic minority background, 944 from a white background and a boosted sample of 300 black Caribbean respondents.

The majority of all groups agreed that there needs to be “much more progress on race in the next 25 years”.

There were also some positive views on the previous 25 years, with 68 per cent of ethnic minority respondents and 71 per cent of white respondents saying there had been significant progress on race issues.

But 13 per cent of ethnic minority respondents disagreed, as did 17 per cent of black respondents and 10 per cent of the white survey group.

Eighty per cent of ethnic minority respondents perceived life in Britain as better than in the US, Germany or France, while the other 20 per cent said it is worse.

Seventy-three per cent of white British respondents said Britain was a better place to live for people from an ethnic minority background.

On black and Asian people facing discrimination in their everyday lives in Britain, 17 per cent of white respondents and 10 per cent of ethnic minority respondents disagreed that this is the case.

Forty-eight per cent of white British respondents and 60 per cent of ethnic minorities said they believe it is easier to “get on” in Britain if you are white.

The study was carried out in time for the 75th anniversary in June of the arrival of the ship HMT Empire Windrush, which started the UK’s post-Second World War immigration drive.

The Windrush generation, children of those migrants, were caught up in a tightening of immigration rules introduced in 2012.

Although they had the right to remain in Britain indefinitely, many who arrived in the 1950s and 1960s had travelled on their parents’ passports and had never applied for any travel documents themselves.

It meant British citizens were wrongly deported, dismissed from their jobs and deprived of vital services as a result of the lack of documentation.

Awareness of the ship and its role in British history was split depending on age, with only 13 per cent of all young people aged 18-24 aware of the Windrush, compared to 87 per cent of people aged over 65.

Among black Caribbean respondents, 89 per cent said they want children to learn about the Windrush story at school, with 53 per cent saying it was very important.

Sunder Katwala, director of British Future and co-author of the report, said committing to an “ambitious agenda for change in the quarter-century to come would be a fitting legacy” of Windrush, with a focus on the progress still required on race in Britain.

The UK government has faced criticism for dropping three of the 30 recommendations made in the official report criticising its handling of the Windrush generation – namely the establishment of a migrants’ commissioner, a call to increase powers of the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration, and the holding of reconciliation events.

The Home Office has previously said it was “committed to righting the wrongs of Windrush”, having paid or offered a little more than £72.5 million in compensation by the end of April this year.

Updated: June 07, 2023, 12:23 AM