Boris Johnson Won’t Axe The Unit That Tackles Race Equality — But Activists Aren’t Celebrating Just Yet

The cabinet office unit charged with tackling racial equality in Britain has not been axed by the new prime minister Boris Johnson despite fears that its future was on the line.

Following days of uncertainty, Number 10 confirmed to BuzzFeed News on Thursday that the Race Disparity Unit set up by Theresa May — and the race disparity advisory group that works alongside it — will “continue as normal,” BuzzFeed News can reveal.

While the chair of the advisory group welcomed the news, race equality activists expressed caution, and have warned “the devil is in the detail”.

The Race Disparity Unit was created by May in 2016 following her first speech as prime minister when she pledged to tackle society’s “burning injustices”. Since then, the unit has completed a consultation on ethnic minority pay and conducted a review on school exclusions which disproportionately affects black and mixed ethnicity pupils.

After May was forced to step down, sources told BuzzFeed News that calls for new prime minister Boris Johnson to commit to the unit had gone unanswered, fuelling concerns that the progress the unit had been making would be undone.

During the Tory party leadership race, Johnson was the only contender who failed to make a diversity pledge which called on candidates to “maintain and build upon the race disparity audit” and commit to tackling criminal justice inequality.

However, a spokesperson from the Cabinet Office told BuzzFeed News that both the unit and the advisory group set up to compliment it would continue its work “as normal” and said there would be no changes to personnel.

Simon Woolley, who chairs the group, told BuzzFeed News: “We’ve done great work, groundbreaking work, with the Race Disparity Unit. One, you have to lay bare the uncomfortable truth.Secondly you have to have an action plan to close the gaps to deal with the problem and we’ve done that around race disparity, ethnic minority pay gaps and education.

"But there’s still so much to do and we just want to get on and do it, regardless of who the leader is, regardless of which party is in government, this work has to be done.”