Forty years on, how the race laws have fared

When the early waves of Commonwealth immigrants landed in Britain in the 1950s and 1960s, racism was instinctive, commonplace and brutal.

New arrivals in white communities were routinely abused in the street. Boarding houses infamously carried signs reading: "No blacks, no Irish, no dogs". Black workers were barred from jobs at Euston station and Sikhs could only be hired as bus drivers if they took off their turbans.

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Forty years ago today, Britain took its first step against such brazen bias and the first Race Relations Act came into force, outlawing discrimination on the "grounds of colour, race, or ethnic or national origins" in public places.

It was a modest piece of legislation covering hotels and restaurants but excluding shops, and failing to tackle prejudice at work or in housing. It also made racial discrimination a civil, rather than a criminal, offence.

But the Act remains a landmark moment, the foundation upon which subsequent race relations laws were built. Today, this country has some of the most comprehensive legislation against discrimination in the Western world. Most recently, local authorities have come under a duty to promote racial equality.

Social norms have also altered during the past four decades as any overtly public expression of racist views is widely regarded as unacceptable. However, with the increasing vote for the British National Party and recent clashes between black and Asian youngsters in Birmingham, no one pretends racial prejudice has been obliterated by legislation.

Paul Goggins, the Home Office Minister, said yesterday that Britain had come a long way in the past 40 years. But he added: "It is very clear to me that racism is still not defeated and none of us should cease our efforts until it is."

And although blatant bias is banned, many ethnic groups still suffer grave disadvantages compared to their white fellow citizens.

Black, Pakistani and Bangladeshi men are three times more likely to be unemployed than whites. They are significantly poorer, live in worse housing and suffer higher infant mortality rates.

The ethnic minorities are under-represented at senior levels of business, the civil service and the judiciary and they still only fill 15 of the 646 seats in the House of Commons.

Even where some ethnic groups are successful, there may be invisible barriers to their progress.

Danny Sriskandarajah, a migration expert at the Institute for Public Policy Reseach, said research suggested that Indian doctors as well qualified as their white counterparts still did not achieve such senior posts.

But he added: "In the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, employers felt race relations legislation was an obligation which politically correct forces were forcing down their throats.

"These days leading businesses are talking about the value of diversity. They are saying that in an ethnically diverse market place they need an ethnically diverse workforce."

Simon Woolley, of Operation Black Vote, said "Paki-bashing" by skinheads was routine in the 1960s and 1970s in Leicester where he grew up.

Much ethnic minority blood has been spilt in the last 40 years, he added, in the fight against racism.

"The fact that people don't live in segregated areas, as they do in Paris or the United States, is testament to how we have moved forward. But there is still much to do - two-thirds of black and ethnic minority people live in the poorest areas of the country.

"The shocking fact that there are so few black and ethnic minority MPs leads many communities up and down the country to feel alienated and frustrated that their concerns aren't being listened to."

He also said that he was alarmed by government moves to merge the Commission for Racial Equality into a new equality commission.

Sadiq Khan, the newly elected Labour MP for Tooting, said: "No one is pretending we are living in a Utopia and much still remains to be done to combat racial prejudice.

"But when I remember our family's early days in Britain living on a council estate, surrounded by racial abuse and criminal damage, I recognise huge progress has been made in the past four decades."

Half a century after the start of mass immigration, the non-white population stands at about 4.5 million, half of whom were born in this country.

That total includes 2.3 million people who describe their background as Asian, 1.1 million who are Black Caribbean or Black African, and nearly 700,000 who are of mixed race.

Swaths of the United Kingdom, including the north-east and south-west of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, remain virtually all-white.

But the ethnic make-up of much of inner London, where whites are now in the minority in two boroughs, and of cities such as Birmingham, Leicester, Bradford and Manchester has been transformed.

Even if overt racial prejudice faced by those communities is officially outlawed, combating the inequality and institutional bias they encounter remains among the country's most pressing challenges.

WHAT HAS THE RACE RELATIONS ACT DONE FOR YOU?

* Baroness [Valerie] Amos, 51, leader of the Lords

I came to this country as a nine-year-old in 1963 and grew up in nice London suburbs.There were one or two racist examples I can point to. When we first went to primary school, my sister and I were put in the bottom class without any discussion. My mother soon found out and got us moved. With the first house my parents bought, someone in the street tried to get a petition to stop them moving in. But others objected and there was no petition.

Over the last 40 years, our national life has been transformed. The important thing to remember is that we can't be complacent.

* Sir William Atkinson, 55, "super head", currently headmaster Phoenix High School, West London

I came to Britain from Jamaica aged seven and remember vividly our family being told that there were no rooms to let for blacks. At school, I told a careers advisor I wanted to be an airline pilot; I was told I should become a postman or join the Army. Things are much better today. This is not to say you don't find a disproportionate number of black graduates who can't find jobs commensurate with their ability, of black prison inmates, or of black students excluded from school. But overall the picture is improving and schools play a crucial role.

* Garth Crooks, 47, football pundit

I can now go to a football match and not worry about being black. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, Chelsea had one of the most racist football contingents in the country. Now they welcome black supporters, employ black stewards and have the most diverse team in the Premiership. If you had told me that was going to happen when I played at Stamford Bridge in 1987, I'd have called you a liar to your face. But if you had said to me that a boy [Stephen Lawrence] would die in a racist attack and the law enforcement agencies we trust so implicitly could fail to bring people to justice I could never have believed it either.

ETHNIC MINORITIES IN THE UK

* Total population 4,635,000 (7.7% of UK population)

In Great Britain, the minority ethnic population grew by 53 per cent between 1991 and 2001, from 3 million in 1991 to 4.6 million in 2001. Half of the total minority ethnic population are Asians of Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi or other Asian origin.

* In the workplace

High Court Judge: 0.94% ethnic minority representation
Circuit Judge: 0.96%
Teachers: 5%
NHS Executive Directors: 7.5% representation
Police force: 9.8%
Prison staff: 5.7%

* In politics

Ethnic minority candidates fielded by three main political parties across UK in 2005 general election: 17%

Currently in the House of Commons: 15 ethnic minority MPs (13 Labour, 2 Conservative, 0 Liberal Democrats)

In the House of Lords: 24 ethnic minority members

* In the penal system

Percentage of current prison population: 25%

Black groups are up to 44% more likely to be detained under the Mental Health Actr compared to the average.

Up to 8% of such inpatients had experienced one of more incidents of control and restraint, The rate was 29% higher than average for Black Caribbean men

Black residents are 8 times more likely to be stopped and searched by police than whites. Asians are almost three times as likely to be stopped and searched than whites.

* Unemployment (men)

White: 5.6%
Afro Caribbean: 14.9%
Pakistani: 13.6%
Bangladeshi: 15.9%

* Housing

More than 50% of Pakistani and Bangladeshis and one third of Afro Caribbeans live in the country's most deprived neighbourhoods, compared with 14% of whites living in the same areas.

Nigel Morris