A landmark report on racial disparity has criticised the use of the term “institutional racism” and claimed other factors, such as family or class, have more “significant impact” on life chances than racism. The report from Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, which was set up by Boris Johnson last year in response to the Black Lives Matter protests (see 8.42am), seems intended to reset the national debate on race, minimising the significance of systemic or structural racism. But commission members have not been fully clear on exactly what they are saying on this topic (see 5.42pm) and opposition parties, trade unions, race experts and equality campaigners have widely dismissed report’s analysis as shallow, naive or politically motivated. Labour said it was an “insult” because it ignored the racial factors in deaths from Covid. (See 4.04pm.) And it has emerged that a “considerable number” of the people who responded to the call for evidence by the commission did tell it they thought Britain was structurally or systemically racist. (See 3.14pm.) My colleagues Peter Walker and Nazia Parveen summarise what the report says, and the response of critics, here.
The official policing inspectorate showed repeated bias in favour of the police and against peaceful protesters as it compiled a report which backed a government clampdown, a whistleblower has alleged. Inspectors from Ofsted are to investigate how private and state schools in England are handling sexual harassment and assault among their pupils, the government has announced. Labour has renewed calls for the Cabinet Office to investigate David Cameron’s connections with Greensill Capital and how the collapsed finance firm’s Australian founder was welcomed into the heart of government. Lisa Nandy, the shadow foreign secretary, has said “national security” would be the first foreign policy priority of a Labour government. In a speech she said: First and foremost the next Labour government will make national security our top priority. To defend the British people from new and traditional threats we will protect our armed forces, take action to defend our democracy and work with partners across Nato and the EU to deal with Russian aggression. The defence and security of the British people is written into the Labour party’s constitution and it is part of our DNA. That’s all from me for today. But coverage continues on our global coronavirus live blog. It’s here.