British Indian minister hosts UK's first race equality roundtable

London, Oct 1 (PTI) A British Indian minister on Wednesday said no one should be held back or denied opportunities because of their race, as she hosted the UK’s first Race Equality Engagement Group (REEG)

thematic roundtable to tackle inequality across different sections of British society.

Minister for Equalities Seema Malhotra, who was recently also appointed Minister for the Indo-Pacific in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), had overseen the launch of the group earlier this year to place the views of ethnic minorities at the “heart of government decision making”.

The event, held recently to mark the start of Black History Month in October, is aimed at working with community leaders across all ethnic backgrounds to fight for change and remove barriers to racial equality in Britain.

“No one should be held back or denied opportunities because of their race,” said Malhotra.  “I am committed to working closely with the group to remove barriers, strengthen accountability and help create a fairer society for communities up and down the country,” she said.

The meeting came against the backdrop of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s keynote address to the Labour Party’s annual conference in Liverpool this week, warning that far-right groups were inciting “racist violence and hatred” in the country.

“If you incite racist violence and hatred, that is not expressing concern: it’s criminal. This party – this great party – is proud of our flags, yet if they are painted alongside graffiti, telling a Chinese takeaway owner to ‘go home’, that’s not pride; that’s racism,” Starmer told Labour delegates amid thunderous applause on Tuesday.

“If you say or imply that people cannot be English or British because of the colour of their skin, that mixed-heritage families owe you an explanation, that people who have lived here for generations, raised their children here, built lives here – working in our schools, our hospitals, running businesses – our neighbours, if you say they should now be deported, then mark my words, we will fight you with everything we have because you are an enemy of national renewal,” he said, alluding to Nigel Farage led Reform UK’s plans to abolish long-term migrants’ settlement rights if elected to government.

Meanwhile, the first thematic meeting of the REEG, chaired by Baroness Doreen Lawrence, discussed improving access to investment for ethnic minority led businesses and the Police Race Action Plan – two key areas in which the Labour government says it wants to address “persistent racial inequalities”.

“Collaboration between ethnic minority communities and the government is crucial in this current climate,” said Lawrence.

“The Race Equality Engagement Group is working to ensure ethnic minorities’ voices are heard having their say on the issues that matter most to them. I look forward to working with members to bring about real and lasting progress on race equality,” she said.

The UK’s Cabinet Office said that leaders from different ethnic minority communities came together to share their views on the current climate with representatives from the Department for Business and Trade (DBT), the British Business Bank, the West Midlands Combined Authority, the National Police Chiefs’ Council and Avon and Somerset Police.

The roundtable focused on access to finance for ethnic minority entrepreneurs as well as the Police Race Action Plan. It is the first of several planned thematic discussions to support plans to “remove barriers to opportunity and tackle race inequality”.

The REEG, established in March with an inaugural meeting at 10 Downing Street in London with the backing of Starmer, is designed to strengthen the UK government’s links with ethnic minority communities by enabling effective, two-way dialogue.  An Equality (Race and Disability) Bill is set to be introduced to address mandatory ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting for large employers, which the government believes would be a significant step towards greater workplace equality.  The UK’s Black History Month is held every October to celebrate the contributions of black and ethnic minority leaders, activists and pioneers to shape the country’s history and look towards a future of empowerment and unity. PTI AK ZH ZH