t appears the government has found a new way to deal with deep-seated racial inequality in the UK: ignore it, deny it and claim to those on the receiving end of racism that it’s merely their “perception” rather than their lived experience. Worse still, part of this government’s “radical” plan is to frame the debate – during this extraordinary year of disproportionate Covid-19 deaths and the killing of George Floyd – in a way that labels Black Lives Matter and other race equality campaigners and educators as somehow conspiring against white people. And to use this tactic particularly and cynically among white working-class voters in the north, many of whom played a significant role in last year’s Conservative general election victory. This new grand plan has been months in the making, but was formally unveiled last week by the two equality ministers, Liz Truss and Kemi Badenoch, and supported by their appointed race equality tsar and chair of the government’s commission on race and ethnic disparities, Tony Sewell. As a precursor to Truss’s speech last Thursday, Sewell – who was a controversial appointment because of his history of denying institutional racism – announced that his much-anticipated report into Covid-19 and race inequality would not now be delivered by the end of year. Yet without a draft paper even being discussed by his fellow commissioners, he said the report would “challenge perceptions of racism” and that “our early findings suggest that life chances are more influenced by age, sex, class, and geography rather than race”. In other words, despite the massive increase in awareness of racism all around the world this year, the government inquiry will tell us race is a minor consideration. Sewell’s thinking ignores the copious amount of government reports laying bare deep-seated inequality, such as the Lammy review of racism within the criminal justice system, or the McGregor-Smith review of workplace inequality. And it appears he’s telling black Britons that it’s merely their “perception” that they are up to 19 times more likely to be stopped and searched by the police, more likely to have force used against them by officers, up to 58% more likely to be unemployed, and up to 47% more likely to be working on zero-hours contracts. I met Sewell and his commissioners this summer. I wanted to talk about racial disparities and how we might close them, but from the start of the conversation he wanted to focus on questions such as, “How do we change the race narrative?”, “How do we stop talking about things like ‘white privilege’?” This was deeply frustrating. As I informed his team, we have a truly unique opportunity, in this historic year, to influence the prime minister and all government departments. And if they really want to change the language they should first help change the systems that keep producing such racial inequities. The narrative will automatically change as outcomes improve. Yet it appears the die was cast. Under this government, it seems that confronting race inequality is the problem, and last week Liz Truss presented a grand “equality” plan that could turn the clock back 50 years. In a bizarre speech, she reminisced about her schooldays in 1980s Leeds: “While we were taught about racism and sexism, there was too little time spent making sure everyone could read and write.” Was she really saying that schoolkids should not be taught about racism and sexism, because it would harm their literacy? Obviously someone in government noticed how ridiculous the idea was, and those passages were erased from the “official” version of her speech on the department website. Truss’s take on history echoed a similar imaginary scenario put forward by her fellow equality minister Kemi Badenoch, who told a BBC podcast last month that anti-racism campaigners wanted history to be taught “in a way that [suggests] good people [are] black people” and “bad people [are] white people”. This fanciful and misleading description of education past and present is allowing this government to frame a narrative that says our children are being brainwashed by anti-racists and that Black Lives Matter is just a “passing fad” (Badenoch’s words). It’s clearly a dog-whistle to its new working-class northern voters, many of whom supported Brexit because they oppose immigration. For similar reasons, the government slashed overseas aid spending – despite pledging to maintain it in the Conservative election manifesto just 12 months ago. Determined to keep their “red wall” voters, the Conservatives are taking a leaf from the Donald Trump playbook that pits poor white people against poor black, Asian and minority ethnic communities. At a time when our nation needs to come together this cynical agenda seeks to divide us. Indeed, this government has mastered the tactic of making it appear to be inclusive, by appointing and promoting a number of black and Asian people as cheerleaders for its hardline agenda. Dr Raghib Ali was one of the latest: he said systemic racism played no part in the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on black, Asian and minority-ethnic communities. It is little surprise therefore, that a recent YouGov survey showed that 84% of Britain’s ethnic minorities think the UK is still racist. As a lifelong race equality campaigner who once proudly served as a commissioner on the Equality and Human Rights Commission, I’ve watched with despair as that formerly independent institution has become blatantly politicised. Its black representation has been all but obliterated, to be replaced by such figures such as racism denier David Goodhart, anti-feminist Jessica Butcher, and Baroness Falkner, who believes anti-Muslim public sentiment is “understandable”. It is all deeply troubling. It seems the government is determined to squander this historic moment – indeed, to remove safeguards against racism rather than improve them. Never before in my life has our society been more prepared to acknowledge and confront its deep-seated racial inequalities; yet never before has a government seemed so keen to embed them further. Thankfully big business has responded fantastically to this moment, as too have local authorities, and practically every academic institution. Difficult conversations have been had, and experiences listened to; historical facts have been laid bare, Britain’s slavery profiteering has been debated, for us to better understand why things are so unequal. People know that if we deal with this, everyone benefits – black and white, north and south. As we head into an uncertain 2021, we must not let down the young generation who took the streets to demand a better world: they are a ray of hope and energy that needs to be acknowledged, listened to and supported. Simon Woolley is the director of Operation Black Vote. He was chair of the No 10 race disparity unit until July 2020