Black people in Britain twice as likely to be murdered as whites, biggest race review reveals

Race is a motive in eight out of ten hate crimes recorded in England and Wales as a Government body warns the country’s hard-won “reputation for tolerance” is under threat following the Brexit vote.

And black people were found to be more than twice as likely than white people to be murdered, and three times as likely to be prosecuted and sentenced, according to a new report which calls on the UK to “urgently” tackle the issue of racial inequality.

In a broad overview of life in Britain for black people and ethnic minorities, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) report found the situation has worsened on a number of fronts in the past five years.

Healing a divided Britain – the most extensive review on race equality ever undertaken – looks at whether UK society lives up to its promise to be fair to all citizens with soundings taken from the EHRC’s five-yearly report on human rights’ progress.

EHRC chair David Isaac admits the comprehensive review paints an “alarming picture of the challenges to equality of opportunity that still remain in modern 21st century Britain”.

There have been “encouraging signs” with important changes to the criminal justice system and new Prime Minister Theresa May’s early statements on modern slavery, he said.

But despite a 50 per cent hike in an increase in the number of ethnic minority police officers in England and Wales (from 3.6 per cent to 5.5 per cent since 2006), Mr Isaac says the aftermath of the decision to leave the EU has thrown up issues of “even greater concern”.

He warned: “Our nation’s hard-worn reputation for tolerance is arguably facing its greatest threat for decades, as those who spread hate use the leave result to legitimise their views.

“The evidence demonstrates inequalities experienced by ethnic minority communities across many areas of life in modern Britain.”

Mr Isaac stressed the Government needs to urgently address race inequality, noting that previous efforts have been “piecemeal and stuttering”.

“So far the government’s economic plan since 2010 has not been paralleled by a race inclusion plan that prevents cutting some communities even further adrift from equality of opportunity,” he said.

Last year`s general election saw the proportion of MPs from ethnic minorities increase from 4.2 to 6.3 percent, although the EHRC said much more progress was needed.

“The combination of the post-Brexit rise in hate crime and deep race inequality in Britain is very worrying and must be tackled urgently,” added Mr Isaac.

“If you are black or an ethnic minority in modern Britain, it can often still feel like you`re living in a different world, never mind being part of a one nation society,” he added.

The report also reveals as well as being more likely to be a victim of hate crime, ethnic minorities and migrants are much more likely to experience disadvantage in the criminal justice system.

The latest Home Office figures on stop and search, for example, show that a black man is still five times more likely to be stopped and searched by police than a white man in England and Wales.

The rate of incarceration for ethnic minorities is over five times that of white people.

Ethnic minorities in police custody in England and Wales were significantly more likely to be physically restrained than white people.

In England, ethnic minorities were around twice as likely to be stopped and searched as those who were white. This has fallen since the year ending March 2011.

Race remains the most commonly recorded motivation for hate crime in England and Wales, at 82 per cent of recorded motivations.

Just over three-quarters of hate crimes reported to the Welsh police forces were racially motivated, with black people most likely to be the victim. In Scotland, racially motivated hate crime is falling but remained the most commonly reported hate crime in 2014/15 (when it was at its lowest since 2003/04).