Our response to the Government's Levelling Up white paper

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There is no question that we need to level up Britain. With the cost of living rapidly increasing, millions of families across the UK are being plunged further into poverty, and we welcome the Government’s sentiment to address national disparities and rising inequality across the board.

Large parts of the UK including the South West, coastal and northern towns desperately need reinvestment and regeneration to reduce inequality and tackle barriers faced by the multiethnic working class nationally.

But the solutions proposed by the Government today are a plaster on a gaping hole in the investments needed. We are disappointed to see a distinct exclusion of the multiethnic working class who are concentrated in Britain’s inner cities and are disproportionately suffering from poverty, covid, poor housing conditions and high rates of unemployment.

Of the 17 local authorities with the highest rates of child poverty in the UK, 10 are in London. And in each of these local authorities, Black and ethnic minority children account for over 50% of the youth population. That a vast proportion of the UK’s most deprived local authorities are receiving little or no levelling up funding is therefore extremely worrying.

We cannot forget that 60% of Bangladeshi children, 54% of Pakistani children and 47% of Black children live in poverty in the UK. That means that over half of Britain’s ethnic minority children are living in poverty.

If there is a genuine intent to ‘level up’ society, our government must invest in the social infrastructure needed to narrow the gap between the multi-ethnic working class and the rest of society, irrespective of location.