UK suffers from profound racial inequality: Report

A UK government report has revealed that people of color and ethnic minorities are almost twice as likely to be unemployed as white British adults. (File Photo)

A UK government report has revealed that blacks and other ethnic minorities are more likely to be unemployed and more likely to be victims and suspects of crime, highlighting the deep-seated racial inequality in Britain.

The audit, published Tuesday by the government's "Ethnicity Facts and Figures" website, also shows that police are three times more likely to stop and search non-white Britons, exposing “significant divisions” in the way ethnic minorities are treated.

The wide-ranging race report also shows that minorities are more likely to fall victim to crime than white people, with nearly 20 percent being victims of crime in 2016, compared with 15 percent for white people.

The report, a damning indictment of racial inequality in Britain, reveals widely varying outcomes in areas including employment, education, health and criminal justice between the UK’s white and ethnic minority populations.

It shows that black people were more than three times more likely to be arrested than white people.

“High arrest rates among ethnic minorities partly reflect discriminatory police practices," Dr Zubaida Haque, an associate at the Runnymede Trust told The Independent.

The UK Prime Minister Theresa May admitted that Britons felt such a disparity saying that people who had lived with discrimination didn’t need a government audit to make them aware of the scale of the challenge.

The British prime minister also warned business leaders, the government and institutions they must ensure that race is never a barrier to people achieving their goals.

British Prime Minister Theresa May held a meeting Tuesday at 10 Downing Street to discuss the findings of the race review. (Photo by AFP)

"If these disparities cannot be explained then they must be changed," May said following the report, calling on government and the UK's institutions.

According to reports, hate crimes in the UK involving racial and religious discrimination have spiked at an unprecedented rate since last year’s British referendum to leave the European Union, raising concerns that minority groups feel more vulnerable than ever.

Faith groups and organizations representing foreign nationalities have called on the government to take urgent action to review its response to such reports. Also, some human rights organizations have blamed the British government’s policies on immigration for inciting hate crimes after the Brexit vote.