Don’t leave the Class argument to the Right

The recent Commission on Racial and Ethnic Disparities report in the UK stirred a storm of controversy in what many saw as the dismissal of institutional racism. The report itself was guilty of something we all are when we approach data hoping it confirms our biases. Whether racism exists at the level many minorities assume depends on one’s interpretation of racism, and that can be a broad bracket or a narrow definition.

An interesting aspect of the report, and one that is part of a growing trend underpinning the political right’s confidence, is the highlighting of class as a powerful factor in inequality in the country. Yes, class matters once again in Britain. It has often been secondary to race in recent years, seen as a debate of the past, an inequality that perhaps might naturally resolve itself once all other injustices are corrected. But now, the language of class is being resurrected, yet perversely, on the right.

This has been happening, slowly, for a while now. In 2012, Blue Collar Conservativism was founded under the agenda of empowering blue-collar workers and cementing the growing Tory support amongst the working-class voters. In 2015, the General Election witnessed Conservative inroads into the fabled “Red Wall” as Ukip ate into Labour votes. Brexit, taking place in 2016, was essentially a working-class revolt against London once…