Boris Johnson announces plan for review into 'all aspects' of racism in UK

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Boris Johnson has announced plans for a cross-government commission to examine “all aspects” of racial inequality in Britain.

It comes after two weeks of Black Lives Matter protests in the UK, after anti-racism momentum spread across the world in the wake of George Floyd's death.

Writing in The Daily Telegraph, the Prime Minister acknowledged that the country had much more to do when it comes to tackling racism.

He said the commission on race and ethnic disparities would look at “all aspects of inequality – in employment, in health outcomes, in academic and all other walks of life”.

Black Lives Matter protests in London continue - In pictures

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The commission will report directly to the PM and will be overseen by Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch, a source told the Telegraph.

An independent chair will apparently also be appointed to oversee a commission of people “with a mix of ethnic, social and professional backgrounds”.

Mr Johnson told broadcasters: “What I really want to do as Prime Minister is change the narrative so we stop the sense of victimisation and discrimination.

“We stamp out racism and we start to have a real expectation of success.

"That’s where I want to get to but it won’t be easy.”

However the announcement, which included little detail, was sharply criticised by opposition parties.

Labour's shadow equalities secretary Marsha de Cordova said: “We are in the midst of a global health pandemic that has sharply exposed deep structural inequalities which have long since needed urgently addressing.

“That the Prime Minister now says he wants to ‘change the narrative… so we stop the sense of victimisation and discrimination’ is condescending and designed to let himself and his Government off the hook.

Liberal Democrat equalities spokeswoman Christine Jardine said the commission was a “welcome first step” but said the Government must go further.

“Too many people’s lives are blighted by discrimination, inequality and injustice. The Government must move further and faster to redress institutional racism in the criminal justice system and many other parts of our society,” she said.

But Mr Johnson also wrote that the country cannot “photoshop” its long and complicated cultural history.

He said to do so would be a “distortion” of our past.

Mr Johnson also said he would resist all attempts to remove Churchill's statue from Westminster, adding that accusing him of racism was the “height of lunacy”.

“I will resist with every breath in my body any attempt to remove that statue from Parliament Square, and the sooner his protective shielding comes off the better,” he said.

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