Charity leaders urge PM to condemn race report

Charity leaders have ramped up their criticism of findings of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities report.

A raft of sector leaders have signed an open letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, condemning the report’s findings.

The letter, which has been coordinated by the Runnymede Trust, calls on Johnson to “repudiate the Commission’s findings immediately and withdraw its report”.

The letter criticises the report for “lacking in intellectual rigour, academic credibility and stakeholder engagement”.

“The Commission has failed on even the most basic level, for instance in acknowledging the fundamental rights of Black and minoritised communities,” it adds.

This latest move by charity leaders follows an angry reaction on social media last week from the charity sector, following publication of the report. The Commission's report had claimed that it could find evidence of institutional racism in the UK.

Among those to sign the letter are Equality Trust director Dr Wanda Wyposka, Runnymede Trust chief executive Dr Jaloima Begum and the campaign group Charity So White.

We promised you action...

Sign our joint letter to the Prime Minister to #RejectTheReport and implement the recommendations of the long-standing Macpherson, Lammy, Marmot and Williams reviews.

Deadline 23:59 this Thursday, please share widely: https://t.co/eYpLB56iTv pic.twitter.com/nwzAPCfG9q
— Runnymede Trust (@RunnymedeTrust) April 6, 2021

The letter to Johnson adds: “Wilfully or not, it would seem reasonable to conclude that either evidence of institutional racism was ignored by the Commissioners, or they have seen fit to put their names to a false declaration.

“In this regard, it is revealing that the Commissioners now claim they are under personal attack.

“While nobody wishes to see matters of national importance diminished to the level of the ad hominem, at some point there needs to be honest scrutiny of this document and the question needs to be asked ‘Who is responsible for its contents?’ And, ultimately, we have no doubt that the person in question is you, Prime Minister.”

The Runnymede Trust is inviting more charity sector leaders to sign the letter by the deadline of 23:59, Thursday 8 April. At the time of writing the letter had 23 signatories.