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“It’s a matter of life and death” LDCRE Chair Roderick Lynch on Black Lives Matter protests

The chair of Liberal Democrats for Racial Equality Roderick Lynch was on Politics England today talking about the Black Lives Matter protests taking part around England.  Why are people taking to the streets in the middle of a pandemic?

He talked about how inequality in housing and health and higher rates of poverty are a matter of life and death every day for black people.

When you think about it like that, you can understand their need to highlight how tough life is and how much of the burden of the inequalities in our society they are being forced to bear.

An article in today’s Observer shows how BAME people and single parents are taking the hardest financial hit from the pandemic. And when they were already struggling long before Covid-19 took over our lives.

Approaching half – 44% – of non-BAME individuals whose working hours have declined during the crisis have been furloughed, while 7% have found themselves unemployed.

By contrast, only 31% of BAME workers who have experienced a drop in the hours they are working have been furloughed, while more than 20% have lost their jobs.

BAME household earnings have fallen from an average £441 a week to £404 over the course of the crisis. Non-BAME groups saw their average weekly earnings fall from £547 to £503.

And single parents have faced an eye-watering fall in their weekly incomes:

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  • Nick Hopkinson
    Fully agree with Chris’ assessment. We should focus on one defining issue and that indeed should be Europe. That not be because EU membership in an end in its...
  • David Warren
    Some really good points here Matthew! My big concern is how we are falling behind the Greens in urban areas. In my home town of Reading two wards that return...
  • Brian Evans
    The policy of bringing derelict homes into use by means of grants (not exactly what was referenced here, but I have recently heard it in other political comment...
  • David Blake
    There were fewer MPs speaking than I expected and one or two seemed to be always at the microphone....
  • Geoff Reid
    When we live in the worst of times for democracy it ought to be the best of times for saying what we are for....