As the government prepares to publish its response to the Race Commission’s report, new research from British Future, Race and opportunity in Britain: finding common ground, provides new, detailed evidence of attitudes to race among white and ethnic minority citizens in the UK.
Its findings, submitted as evidence to the Race Commission, illustrate why talking about race can sometimes feel difficult, but also identifies the common ground on which a positive agenda for change could be built.
Action to tackle CV discrimination in employment, to combat hate speech online, to promote greater mixing in schools between children from different backgrounds, and to promote a shared understanding of Britain’s history, including the history of Empire, were all issues on which ethnic minority and white citizens would like to see change.
The research draws on two waves of nationally representative research conducted by Number Cruncher Politics, firstly in October 2020 (with a sample of 1,000 ethnic minority and 1,088 white UK adults) and then in February 2021 (with a sample of 2,000 ethnic minority and 1,501 white UK adults).
Seven online discussion groups were held with mixed-ethnicity participants from Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire; Cardiff; Glasgow; Leicestershire; Lewisham, South London; the north-east of England (Greater Newcastle, Sunderland and Northumberland); and Preston, Lancashire.
