Blair: "Things can only get better."
The Government’s 450-page report into inequality in Britain points to the failure of Labour’s 1996 pledge to raise the living standards of the poorest “by the end of its time in office”.
The “Anatomy of Economic Inequality in the UK” report describes Britain as a place where inequality and an enduring class system has trapped Britain’s poorest in a cycle of hopeless under-achievement.
Singled out most are white boys who are described as doing particularly badly under Labour where the study found that only 6% of those eligible for free school meals (i.e. any child whose parents earn less than £16,500 per year or are on benefits) went on to university. In the reports summary it found that those from minority ethnic groups with GCSE results around or below the national median are much more likely to go on to higher education than white pupils with similar results. Children with Chinese, Indian and Black backgrounds now have higher education qualifications than the equivalent White British population.
But despite these new trends nearly all minority ethnic groups are less likely to be in paid employment than white men and women. 44 per cent of Pakistani and 49 per cent of Bangladeshi women are economically inactive, because they are looking after family or home, compared to 20 per cent or fewer of other groups. Around 80 per cent of White British, other White (Irish, Polish etc), and Indian men are in paid work, but between 60 and 70 per cent of other groups.
This report is important for the liberal Establishment when it tries to understand the incremental rise in BNP support over the last five years. It clearly shows that the election of Nick Griffin and Andrew Brons to the European Parliament is not because because of some inexplipable growth in intolerance towards minorities and seasonal resentment towards politicians.
It is because of the bona fide grievances about feeling socially, economically and culturally excluded from Britain (the report outlines the sense of economic isolation).
It is about the failure of government policy to address the adverse effects of cultural and economic globalisation on hard-working families who have lost their livelihood, their communities and their sense of security (the RDAs, the tax-credits, the skills councils, the early schools intervention – well-meaning but ultimately ineffective, wasteful initiatives that have failed to provide real hope and employment for hard-hit families).
The government’s multicultural approach has also contributed. The immigration integration policy has exacerbated the creation of ghettos and the failure to give new arrivals a sense of Britishness. Multi-culturalism has provided the mechanics for many of the interventions that address inequality by defining someone’s needs by their religion or the colour of their skin (see post on the DLG’s Tackling Race Inequality report). These have made Britain more divided and fractured than ever before.
Nick Griffin and the BNP may seek to use these figures to their political advantage by saying that this prove that Britain’s white working class have lost out during a time of prosperity for the rest of the country. He is right.
However, he is wrong to suggest there is a conspiracy to cleanse Britain of its indigenous population. The problems in our society stem from government the policy failures to address very real issues facing hard-working families during an industrial revolution that has left many of them unable to compete in the world economy and uncomfortable in their own homes, and they should be held accountable for this.
