Black Lives Matter: PM urged to deliver 'get serious and deliver' and told BAME people don't need 'another review'
Boris Johnson has promised a cross-government commission to tackle racism following widespread protests in the UK.
Monday 15 June 2020 22:24, UK
Boris Johnson is under pressure to "get serious and deliver" when it comes to tackling racial inequality, after critics dismissed his announcement of "another review" into the issue.
Following widespread protests in the UK in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, the prime minister has promised a cross-government commission to tackle racism.
This will look at "all aspects of inequality - in employment, in health outcomes, in academic and all other walks of life", Mr Johnson said in a newspaper column for his former employer, the Daily Telegraph.
The newspaper reported the commission will report directly to the prime minister and will have an independent chair.
It will look at inequality across the UK, not just that affecting the black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) community, and will be asked to produce recommendations for the government by the end of this year, the Telegraph added.
Full details of the review are due to be provided in the coming days.
Mr Johnson's commission is set to be the second review into racial inequality to be carried out on the instructions of Number 10 in three years.
In October 2017, the first data from ex-prime minister Theresa May's race disparity audit was published.
Shadow justice secretary David Lammy, who chaired the 2017 review of the treatment of BAME individuals in the criminal justice system, told Sky News: "How many reviews and commissions do we need?
"This feels like more taxpayers' money kicking the issue into the long grass to assuage Black Lives Matter."
He claimed the review was "dreamed up yesterday on the back of a fag packet" and told the PM: "This is a tough time, and we need a prime minister that's going to step up, get serious and deliver. Deliver for once. That's what people want."
Following Mr Johnson's announcement, Nazir Afzal - a former chief prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service - noted how the last few years have also seen reviews into the justice system, deaths in police custody, the Windrush scandal, UK workplaces, and the impact of coronavirus on BAME groups.
He said: "These and others identified what needs to be done to tackle racism.
"Boris Johnson, we don't need another review. Just deliver action now."
David Isaac, the chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, also said it was "time for urgent action".
"We know the scale of the problems we face to tackle the entrenched racial inequality in our country. It is not new," he said.
"There have been countless reports and the data exists exposing all the issues. Now is the time for urgent action.
"We need to see a clear and comprehensive race strategy with clear targets and timescales from the government.
"We hope this new commission will help deliver that and we stand ready to work with it."
Mr Johnson's former chancellor Sajid Javid welcomed the prime minister's new commission.
But he added: "Shining a light on injustice isn't enough. We need an action plan to tackle it.
"The racial disparity audit found the data. The commission must deliver the solutions."
Fellow Conservative MP Nusrat Ghani, who served in Mr Johnson's government until February this year, posted on Twitter: "Another commission? Ok, it's welcome.
"But we have the data on obstacles, prejudice and inequalities. We just need to crack on with real practical solutions which will have a positive impact."
Labour's former shadow home secretary Diane Abbott, the first black female MP, said: "Black people don't need another commission.
"They need action on existing reports and reviews."
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Liberal Democrat MP Christine Jardine, the party's equalities spokesperson, said the commission's findings "must not become simply another report on a shelf in Whitehall".
"The government must implement them without delay," she added.
In response to criticism of the new commission, the prime minister said: "The whole point of having a review is to look at the area where people feel that there is more that needs to be done.
"We've already acted on the Lammy report and we will continue to do more.
"For instance, young black males that are involved in crime don't automatically get moved to prosecution, we make sure we have more BAME groups in the prison and probation service; and more use of body worn cameras so people have confidence in the criminal justice system."
Asked about the criticism of the review by Sky's political editor Beth Rigby, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said: "We want to make sure that we can translate some of the diagnosis of the challenges that we've got with actionable policies."
He added: "So I do understand the restlessness for change. I think what the prime minister wants to make sure is that with this commission that we can come up with actionable policies, not just a diagnosis of the challenges we face."
Downing Street said the new commission will also examine why working-class white boys fell behind in school.