The standard left-wing narrative is that Conservatives are, at best, apathetic towards ethnic minority issues in the UK. However, this could not be further from the truth. Since 2010 the UK Government has worked tirelessly to help the BAME community reach its full potential and promote equality of opportunity across British society.
An overwhelming majority of Conservative MPs voted for the 2010 Equality Act. The Act legally protects people from discrimination in the workplace and broader society and replaced previous anti-discrimination laws with a single Act, making the law easier to understand and strengthening protection in some situations.
Once the party came to power, it sought to implement policies that promoted equality and helped BAME individuals climb the economic ladder. For example, in 2015, David Cameron spearheaded an initiative to make civil service job applications ‘name blind’ after evidence emerged that applicants with white-sounding names were more likely to be shortlisted for entry-level jobs. Similar measures were then implemented in other organisations including the BBC, NHS, HSBC and Deloitte. Shortly afterwards, Theresa May launched an audit to tackle racial disparities across the public sector. The audit revealed the challenges faced by minorities trying to access available services, as well as the disadvantages suffered by white working-class people.
More recently the Government has appointed BAME MPs to critical positions including several senior cabinet ministers as well as more junior ones. Earlier this year the MP for Saffron Walden, Kemi Badenoch, who is of Nigerian origin, was made Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury in addition to being the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Equalities.
Badenoch has led efforts to identify and tackle the COVID-19 health disparities faced by ethnic minorities. In a recent statement to parliament, she outlined the actions the Government is currently taking to deal with the issue, including £4.3 million in funding for medical research into the links between COVID and ethnicity.
On the whole, the UK Government is committed to practical policies that promote equality of opportunity and foster economic development within the BAME community. By contrast, the Scottish Government makes token gestures that are more about policing culture than actually helping minorities.
Various organisations have condemned the recent Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill. The latest round of scrutiny by Holyrood's justice committee saw an unlikely alliance of chapels, kirks, gurdwaras, humanists, secularists, artists, writers and journalists united in condemnation of the legislation which many argue could curtail freedom of speech. Various organisations representing ethnic minorities including Scottish Conservative Friends of BAME (SCBAME) have pointed to the Bill as yet another example of SNP lip service that offers no material benefit to the BAME community.