What happened to Labour's racial equality agenda?
The 'eradication of structural racism would be a defining cause' of Labour's time in power. That's what Keir Starmer said in 2020, a few months after the death of George Floyd. In the party's election manifesto last year, it promised to introduce a Race Equality Act to root out racial inequalities as part of a broader racial justice agenda. This included addressing the treatment of black people under the Mental Health Act, appointing a 'Windrush Commissioner' and making big businesses publish ethnicity pay gap data.
But now, with Keir Starmer in No.10, much of this racial justice mission appears to have been forgotten.
Labour's promised Race Equality Act has all but vanished. Where once there was talk of handing preferential access to government contracts for 'African-heritage firms', Labour's race equality mission has been watered down into a new 'Race Equality Engagement Group' (announced in March) and a tepid call for evidence in April.
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Glasgow Times
12 minutes ago
- Glasgow Times
Gatwick-bound plane carrying 53 British nationals crashes in India
In a statement following the incident on Thursday, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: 'The scenes emerging of a London-bound plane carrying many British nationals crashing in the Indian city of Ahmedabad are devastating.' He added he is being kept updated as the situation develops. The King said he is also being updated on the incident. India's federal health minister Jagat Prakash Nadda said in a statement that 'many people' were killed in the crash. Air India's chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran described the incident as a 'tragic accident' and a 'devastating event' and said emergency response teams are at the site. A video of the incident, obtained by local media, shows the aircraft flying over a residential area before crashing, creating what appears to be a large explosion. Commons Leader Lucy Powell said the Government will provide 'all the support that it can' to those affected by the incident. Air India said the flight was departing from Ahmedabad Airport with 242 people onboard the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft. The airline said 169 passengers are Indian nationals, 53 are British, one is Canadian and seven are Portuguese. The Reuters news agency reported 217 adults and 11 children were on board the flight. In a statement, Mr Chandrasekaran said: 'With profound sorrow I confirm that Air India Flight 171 operating Ahmedabad London Gatwick was involved in a tragic accident today. 'Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with the families and loved ones of all those affected by this devastating event. 'At this moment, our primary focus is on supporting all the affected people and their families. 'We are doing everything in our power to assist the emergency response teams at the site and to provide all necessary support and care to those impacted.' He added: 'An emergency centre has been activated and support team have been set up for families seeking information.' Flight AI171, operating Ahmedabad-London Gatwick, was involved in an incident today, 12 June 2025. At this moment, we are ascertaining the details and will share further updates at the earliest on and on our X handle ( -Air India… — Air India (@airindia) June 12, 2025 Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, director general of India's directorate of civil aviation, told the Associated Press the crash happened in the Meghani Nagar area at 1.38pm local time (9.08am BST). Mr Kidwai said there were 232 passengers and 12 crew members onboard. It is the first crash involving a Boeing 787 aircraft, according to the Aviation Safety Network database. Flight tracking website Flightradar24 posted on social media platform X: 'We are following reports of a crash of Air India flight #AI171 from Ahmedabad to London. 'We received the last signal from the aircraft at 08:08:51 UTC (shortly before 9.09am BST), just seconds after take off. 'The aircraft involved is a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner with registration VT-ANB.' It added the signal from the aircraft was lost 'less than a minute after take off'. Air India was acquired by Tata Group from the Indian government in January 2022 after racking up billions of pounds of losses. The airline's UK operations are at Birmingham, Gatwick and Heathrow, with routes to a number of Indian cities such as Ahmedabad, Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. Recent analysis by the PA news agency found it was the worst airline for delays to flights from UK airports last year, with planes taking off by an average of more than 45 minutes later than scheduled. The airline has gained a poor reputation for delays and cancellations in recent years, partly caused by a lack of funds to purchase spare aircraft parts, which led to some of its fleet being grounded. The first flight of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft involved in the crash was in December 2013. The plane was delivered to Air India during the following month.
Scottish Sun
17 minutes ago
- Scottish Sun
Sick moment vile yob shouts ‘f*** foreigners' while setting family's home on FIRE in ‘racist' riot carnage
THIS is the vile moment yobs shouted "f*** foreigners" while setting a family's home on fire in "racist" riot carnage. Hundreds gathered on the streets of Ballymena in Northern Ireland on Wednesday facing police armed with riot shields and water cannon on the third night of anti-immigrant demonstrations. 7 This is the vile moment yobs shouted 'f*** foreigners' while setting a family's home 7 A man filming the scenes on his phone can be heard screaming 'f*** the foreigners' 7 Video footage emerged on social media today showing masked thugs stoking a fire in a kitchen Video footage emerged on social media today showing masked thugs breaking into a house and stoking a fire in the kitchen. It is unclear who the property belonged to, but a man filming the scenes on his phone can be heard screaming "f*** the foreigners". He grabs a kettle and while thrusting it into the air in front of a group of thugs, he shouts "yes! f*** the foreigners". The protests erupted in the northern town of Ballymena after the arrest of two teenagers accused of attempting to rape a young girl. The pair appeared Monday in court, where they asked for a Romanian interpreter. Police have not confirmed the ethnicity of the teenagers, who remain in custody, but areas attacked on Monday and Tuesday included neighbourhoods where Romanian migrants live. Ministers from every party in the province's power-sharing executive strongly condemned "the racially motivated violence witnessed in recent days". Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the unrest in Ballymena "mindless violence". Around 20 miles southeast of the town, masked men set a leisure centre in Larne on fire. The centre was temporarily sheltering people from Ballymena who had been evacuated. Masked yobs set fire to NI leisure centre 'used to house locals fleeing riots' as violence hits Ballymena for 3rd night People living in Ballymena described "terrifying" scenes in which attackers had targeted "foreigners" over the previous days. Some people fixed signs to their houses indicating they were Filipino residents, or hung up British flags. Northern Ireland's First Minister Michelle O'Neill, the Sinn Fein vice-president, called the violence "abhorrent". The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said in a statement that its officers "came under sustained attack over a number of hours with multiple petrol bombs, heavy masonry, bricks and fireworks in their direction". Some of the injured officers required hospital treatment. Police Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson on Tuesday denounced the violence as "racist thuggery" and said it was "clearly racially motivated and targeted at our minority ethnic community and police". 7 Larne Leisure Centre came under attack and was set on fire in the evening Credit: X / @TheNorfolkLion 7 A sticker with a Philippines flag and the words 'Filipino lives here' on a house Credit: Reuters 7 Fireworks were shot at the police barricade as the unrest unfolded Credit: AFP
The Sun
23 minutes ago
- The Sun
Sick moment vile yob shouts ‘f*** foreigners' while setting family's home on FIRE in ‘racist' riot carnage
THIS is the vile moment yobs shouted "f*** foreigners" while setting a family's home on fire in "racist" riot carnage. Hundreds gathered on the streets of Ballymena in Northern Ireland on Wednesday facing police armed with riot shields and water cannon on the third night of anti-immigrant demonstrations. 7 7 7 Video footage emerged on social media today showing masked thugs breaking into a house and stoking a fire in the kitchen. It is unclear who the property belonged to, but a man filming the scenes on his phone can be heard screaming "f*** off foreigners". He grabs a kettle and while thrusting it into the air in front of a group of thugs, he shouts "yes! f*** the foreigners". The protests erupted in the northern town of Ballymena after the arrest of two teenagers accused of attempting to rape a young girl. The pair appeared Monday in court, where they asked for a Romanian interpreter. Police have not confirmed the ethnicity of the teenagers, who remain in custody, but areas attacked on Monday and Tuesday included neighbourhoods where Romanian migrants live. Ministers from every party in the province's power-sharing executive strongly condemned "the racially motivated violence witnessed in recent days". Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the unrest in Ballymena "mindless violence". Around 20 miles southeast of the town, masked men set a leisure centre in Larne on fire. The centre was temporarily sheltering people from Ballymena who had been evacuated. Masked yobs set fire to NI leisure centre 'used to house locals fleeing riots' as violence hits Ballymena for 3rd night People living in Ballymena described "terrifying" scenes in which attackers had targeted "foreigners" over the previous days. Some people fixed signs to their houses indicating they were Filipino residents, or hung up British flags. Northern Ireland's First Minister Michelle O'Neill, the Sinn Fein vice-president, called the violence "abhorrent". The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said in a statement that its officers "came under sustained attack over a number of hours with multiple petrol bombs, heavy masonry, bricks and fireworks in their direction". Some of the injured officers required hospital treatment. Police Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson on Tuesday denounced the violence as "racist thuggery" and said it was "clearly racially motivated and targeted at our minority ethnic community and police". 7 7 7 7
