Don’t treat ethnic minorities as one group, parties warned

The report, by the centre-right think tank Policy Exchange, says despite the fact most people from ethnic minority backgrounds vote Labour, “there are clear and meaningful differences between each of these communities, which need to be fully understood by policymakers and politicians”.

A Portrait of Modern Britain forecasts that the Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, African and Caribbean communities are poised to rise from 14 per cent of the population to 30 per cent by 2050.

In contrast to the white population in the UK, these groups are far more likely to describe themselves as British and half of them live in three English cities – London, Birmingham and Manchester.

The Pakistani community is mainly based in the north of England and the Midlands, while more than half of the black community lives in London.

Indians are the most geographically dispersed and Bangladeshis are the least, with a quarter of this community living in two adjacent areas in east London.

Labour voters

People from ethnic minority backgrounds are far more likely to vote Labour than for the other parties, according to the report from Policy Exchange, which has close links to the Conservatives. But the report says politicians wrongly treat ethnic communities as one group.

Co-author Rishi Sunak says: "These communities will continue to become an ever more significant part of Britain, especially in future elections. From education to employment, housing to trust in the police, politicians from all parties must understand the different issues affecting individual communities."

The report says support for Labour is "regardless of class or association with Conservative policies". But it adds that lndians are four times more likely to vote Conservative than Africans.

Despite the challenges, Mr Sunak says that with "improved understanding" of these communities, the Conservative party could attract more ethnic minority votes. He says the party should be able to engage with church-going Caribbeans and home-owning Pakistanis and Bangladeshis, who tend to work for themselves or small businesses.

Ethnic groups are more likely to be religious than the white British, with the majority of Caribbeans, Bangladeshis and Pakistanis attending a religious service every week, compared with 10 per cent of the white population.

Children from Indian backgrounds are doing better at school than the white British, with 75 per cent of Indian pupils achieving five good GCSEs (including English and maths), compared with 50 per cent of Caribbean pupils.

Bangladeshi performance is improving fast and there are now 59 per cent of this group achieving five good GCSEs, a higher percentage than white British children.

All ethnic minority groups have bigger proportions of young people in further and higher education than whites.

Indians are also succeeding in the workplace, with a disproportionate presence in highly skilled jobs. But ethnic minority groups as a whole are less successful, with higher unemployment levels than whites.

The UK's largest ethnic groups

Indian - 1.4 million

Pakistani - 1.1 million

Black African - 1 million

Black Caribbean - 600,000

Bangladeshi - 450,000