Race review glorifies slave trade’ says MP, as investigation branded ‘insult’ – follow live

An independent Scotland would have to wait up to 10 years to join the EU, a think-tank has warned.

In a new report, the non-partisan Institute for Government (IfG) said a hard border with England would be inevitable if Scotland joined the bloc.

It added that the country would also most likely have to adopt the Euro.

Bearing these matters in mind, the report’s authors said the Scottish government should be“open” about the “costs as well as benefits” of EU membership.

Scottish party leaders clashed over the possibility of a second independence referendum in a heated debate on Tuesday evening.

Ahead of elections in May, Nicola Sturgeon, the country’s first minister, promised she would be an “experienced hand at the wheel” if elected and her SNP party would introduce “bold policies to drive our recovery”.

She added that people should have the choice of independence once the pandemic is over.

While the Scottish Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties disapproved of this, the Scottish Green Party expressed support for a referendum during the next parliament.

The race report published today has already sparked much public debate. But who wrote it?

Adam Forrest has the details:

The prime minister has issued the following statement on the government’s race report:

“The Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities was launched to conduct a detailed, data-led examination of inequality across the entire population, and to set out a positive agenda for change.

“I want to thank Dr Tony Sewell and each of the commissioners for generously giving their time to lead this important piece of work. It is now right that the government considers their recommendations in detail, and assesses the implications for future government policy.

“The entirety of government remains fully committed to building a fairer Britain and taking the action needed to address disparities wherever they exist.”

The term BAME should no longer be used because it does not allow for nuance, the race report has suggested.

“It is demeaning to be categorised in relation to what we are not, rather than what we are: British Indian, British Caribbean and so on,” the authors write.

The report also says the term is unhelpful because it “forces us to think that the principle cause of all disparities must be majority versus minority discrimination”.

The report says progress on race cannot be made by “cleaving to a fatalistic account that insists nothing has changed”.

In its conclusion, the authors thank the “mainly young people” who instigated the Black Lives Matter movement for highlighting the issue of racism.

It adds: “But most of us come from an older generation whose views were formed by growing up in the 1970s and 1980s.

“Our experience has taught us that you do not pass on the baton of progress by cleaving to a fatalistic account that insists nothing has changed.”

Keir Starmer has said he is “disappointed” by the details of the race report that have been published so far.

Speaking to reporters in Leeds this morning, he said: “On the one hand, there’s an acknowledgement of the problems, the issues, the challenges that face many black and minority ethnic communities.

“But, on the other hand, there’s a reluctance to accept that that’s structural.”

In the foreword to the race report, the commission’s chairman Tony Sewell writes that factors including geography and socio-economic background can have a “more significant” effect on life chances than racism.

He concludes that Britian is no longer “deliberately rigged against ethnic minorities” and that “very few” disparities are “directly to do with racism”, which he says is often a “catch-all explanation”.

Mr Sewell states: “The evidence shows that geography, family influence, socio-economic background, culture and religion have more significant impact on life chances than the existence of racism.

“That said, we take the reality of racism seriously and we do not deny that it is a real force in the UK.”

For those who want to read the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities’ report in full, it can be found here.

Labour MP David Lammy, who led a review into racial disparities in the criminal justice system in 2017, has called the race commission’s report an “insult to anybody and everybody across this country who experiences institutional racism”.

Speaking on LBC this morning, he said: “British people, white and black, are dying to turn the page on racism.

“Boris Johnson has just slammed the door in their faces by telling them that they’re idealists, they are wasting their time. He has let an entire generation of young white and black British people down.”

He compared the actions of Mr Johnson’s government to former Tory administrations that stood in the way of matters such as an inquiry into the death of Stephen Lawrence.

“This report could have been a turning point and a moment to come together. Instead, it has chosen to divide us once more and keep us debating the existence of racism rather than doing anything about it,” the shadow justice secretary added.