A FLAGSHIP report into racism in the UK has found no evidence the system is “deliberately rigged against ethnic minorities” in a move that has caused widespread anger.

The Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities published its findings yesterday, making 24 recommendations and concluding there is no evidence of institutional racism in the UK.

But it has sparked outrage across the country, with some people suggesting the report itself is an example of institutional racism.

Set up in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests last year, the commission, chaired by Dr Tony Sewell, suggests the UK could act as a “beacon” for other majority-white countries in the way it has handled racism.

Controversially it has recommended banning the term “BAME” (black, Asian and minority ethnic) and said geography, family influence, socio-economic background, culture and religion all impact life chances more than racism.

It also suggests using new teaching resources to help “all children to reclaim their British heritage”, rather than “decolonising” the curriculum, with suggestions including a dictionary of well-known British words with Indian origin.

The report adds: “There is a new story about the Caribbean experience which speaks to the slave period not only being about profit and suffering but how culturally African people transformed themselves into a remodelled African/Britain.”

Dr Sewell said some communities are haunted by historic racism and there was a “reluctance to acknowledge that the UK had become open and fairer”.

He wrote: “Put simply, we no longer see a Britain where the system is deliberately rigged against ethnic minorities.

“The impediments and disparities

do exist, they are varied, and ironically very few of them are directly to do with racism.

“Too often ‘racism’ is the catch-all explanation, and can be simply implicitly accepted rather than explicitly examined.”

His report has been roundly condemned by many BAME groups and individuals, who say that denying racism exists is a form of gaslighting, and referring to racism as an issue of the past is untrue.

Khaleda Noon, founder of Scottish youth charity Intercultural Youth Scotland, said people will continue to suffer racism as a result of its publication. She explained: “The polarity that this report will only intensify undermines the role mass movements have played in our history and continue to play in our present.

“This report will also let racism go unchecked. We will suffer greater racisms due to this report, and we must do all we can to reject its methods and conclusions.”

She said it was hard to explain “obvious inequalities”, such as deaths in childbirth, school exclusion and child poverty rates, “without structural or institutional racism” and added: “Where the commission’s report seems ostensibly to understand that racism is historically constituted, it seems to ignore that these histories are lived in our present.

“The framing of this report takes small progresses, made almost entirely through protest, and gives the UK Government the justification to do nothing more to work against systemic inequities.”

Human rights lawyer Aamer Anwar said the report was a “whitewash”, and said: " For the BAME community who face racism every day, who still grieve at gravesides for loved ones who lost lives to racial violence, for those who see no diversity at top of our institutions but over representation in our prisons or Covid deaths, this report is just another brutal example of institutional racism.

"The report bears little resemblance to our reality, our struggles, our sacrifices, "I’m actually surprised they don’t want to ban the use of the word ‘racism ‘rather than just ‘BAME’, but the fight against racism will continue."

Dr Halima Begum, chief executive of the race equality think tank the Runnymede Trust, added: “Frankly, by denying the evidence of institutional racism and tinkering with issues like unconscious bias training and use of the term ‘BAME’, I think they’ve insulted every ethnic minority in this country – the people who continue to experience racism on a daily basis.”

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said: “The report’s conclusion won’t reflect the lived experiences of many people in the UK.

“We have established beyond doubt that everyday racism exists, and the focus must be on overcoming hatred and prejudice – rather than a debate about whether it is structural or not, we need to focus on action.

“This requires politicians to come together on a cross-party basis, because the fight against hate is a fight for all of us.”

SNP Holyrood candidate Kaukab Stewart added: “Only by acknowledging and understanding institutional racism will we be able to effectively tackle it in all aspects of life.”