How accurate are Meghan and Harry's Netflix claims about UK race-relations?

Anglophobia can make you some serious bank.

I try to avoid celebrity tittle tattle, but it is obvious that Meghan and Harry are making serious Netflix bank by pressing all the right American Anglophobe buttons. It is little more than cynical manipulation. In a telling image in one of their earlier whinge-mentaries, Harry played the court Jester (historically those who could comedically speak truth to power) and juggled his little balls as Meghan’s ‘truth’ was told in the inner sanctum.

Beyond the symbolism, they re-affirm the easy stereotypes of the UK as a racist hellhole. This form of modern ‘faith-based’ woke hegemony rarely survives contact with reality or data; perhaps why such emphasis is placed on ‘lived experience’, anecdotes and the increased reliance on subjectification to evidence grievance. Even Harry intones the ubiquity of Meghan’s persecution through unconscious bias (I feel it. Therefore, it’s true).

How accurate are Meghan and her juggling husband’s claims?

Is the U.K. systemically racist?

Like the U.S. media, the British media has pushed a narrative of ubiquitous racism, xenophobia and discrimination that is allegedly prevalent across the U.K. A major study found that between 2010 and 2020, “terms such as racism and white supremacy in popular U.K. media outlets increased on average by 769% and 2,827%, respectively”. The report continues that mentions “of prejudice have also become far more prominent in the BBC, the U.K.’s leading public service outlet. From 2010 to 2020, mentions in BBC content of terms suggestive of racism have increased by over 802%... hate speech (880%), … or slavery (413%).”.[1]

What does that data show? In 2019, the European Union conducted one of the most extensive surveys across the European continent. Its report, Discrimination in the European Union, showed that the United Kingdom is one of the least racist societies in Europe; a continent already characterised by extensive anti-discrimination laws and norms, and that partially explains the mass legal and illegal migration from across the world to the continent, especially to the U.K. Why would any non-European risk their lives, or moves thousands of miles to start a life in a deeply racist hellhole?

On working with a colleague from different ethnicity, 89 per cent of the British population were comfortable, with 5 per cent either indifferent or did not know. Italy, a mature and developed European democracy, stood at only 56 per cent being comfortable. On being comfortable with the highest political position in the land occupied by somebody from a different ethnic origin or skin colour, the U.K. scored 88 per cent. This was reflected in the 2022 leadership contest in the U.K.’s Conservative party, where Kemi Badenoch, a black woman of Nigerian ancestry, was the clear favourite amongst the party's membership, a party regularly portrayed as being xenophobic and racist by its political opponents. At the time of writing, the UK’s Prime Minister is Rishi Sunak, whose parents are of Indian descent.

Perhaps more important and illustrative of how deep anti-discrimination norms have become embedded in British society, 86 per cent of those surveyed reported that they would be comfortable with their children being in a loving relationship with a black person.[2]  This is reflected in the data. The last British census data available at the time of writing was conducted in 2021.[3] It showed that 3 per cent of the British population was mixed race, one percentage point up from the 2011 census, double the 2001 census. Research by Alita Nandi and Lucinda Platt suggests the figure could be three times as high. If correct, mixed-race people are a more significant proportion of the population than any other minority ethnic group.[4]

The study above confirms data from an earlier and similarly extensive 2016 European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights study. It was based on face-to-face interviews with 25,515 respondents with different ethnic minority and immigrant backgrounds across 28 E.U. Member States. While people of black African descent faced “widespread and entrenched prejudice and exclusion” across the E.U., the U.K. had one of the lowest reported levels of race-related harassment and violence in the 12-country study. The highest violence rates were reported in Finland (14 per cent), closely followed by Austria and the Republic of Ireland (13 per cent). The figure among U.K. respondents was 3 per cent.

A clear majority of 59 per cent of respondents stated that discrimination was rare to non-existent in the U.K. For African migrants to the U.K., only 6 per cent reported being discriminated against because of their ethnic origin over 12 months; 0 per cent when looking for housing, and 3 per cent when in contact with their children’s schools. Across nearly every measure, the U.K. was the least racist and discriminatory country in Europe.[5]

The non-discriminatory nature of the U.K. shows up in education and earnings too. For example, at our most selective universities, only 5 per cent of disadvantaged young people enrol compared with the national average of 12 per cent. Part-time students from lower-income backgrounds have dropped by a massive 42 per cent over the past six years. Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show that the historically low entry rate into higher education of white pupils from state schools has been this way since 2006.

The most significant increase in entry rates between 2006 and 2018 was among black pupils, from 21.6 per cent to 41.2 per cent; the smallest increase was among white pupils, from 21.8 per cent to 29.5 per cent. [6] In contrast, the latest ethnic data show that 38.7 per cent of white pupils went to university, whereas mixed pupils stood at 47.6 per cent, black pupils at 59.9 per cent, and Asian pupils at 64.3. per cent and Chinese pupils 80.9 per cent. [7]

At Oxford, often held up as a beacon of privilege, 24.6 per cent of its 2021 intake were black or minority ethnic students, which confirms an annual trend of upward and significant BME student enrolment (for example, in 2017, BME students admitted were 17.8%).

This reflects a broader trend across British universities. The 2019 data shows that the proportion of 19–25-year-olds across the U.K. was 80.6% white and 19.4% BME. However, BME students made up almost 29% of the total intake at British universities in the same year, including over 25% at the elite Russell Group. [8] These educational disadvantages have significant real-world effects. The Office for National Statistics data shows that Chinese, Indian, and mixed or multiple ethnicity employees all have higher median hourly pay than White British employees, with Chinese employees earning 30.9 per cent more than white British employees. [9]

Tellingly, a child on free school meals is the leading indicator of deprivation, but this does not impact all ethnic groups equally. In terms of progression amongst young men, 67 per cent of Chinese, 54 per cent of Indian, 53 per cent of Bangladeshi, 52 per cent of Black Africans, and 24 per cent of black Caribbean on free school meals progress to higher education. White British men? At just 13 per cent, they are the least likely group to study at university after those from Traveller backgrounds.

A Parliamentary report noted that in 2018/19, just 53% of Free School Meal (FSM) eligible White British pupils met the expected development standard at the end of the early year's foundation stage, one of the lowest percentages for any disadvantaged ethnic group.[10] The trends have seemingly become so entrenched that the U.K. Parliament’s Education Select committee commissioned a report in 2021 to examine the decades-long disadvantages of white working-class kids entitled The forgotten: how White working-class pupils have been let down, and how to change it. It found that the “proportion of White British pupils who were FSM-eligible starting higher education by the age of 19 in 2018/19 was 16%, the lowest of any ethnic group other than traveller of Irish heritage and Gypsy/Roma” with one of the key reasons being a “failure to address low participation in higher education”.[11]

(I used to love that Kappa tracksuit!).

In what is little more than a form of progressive political hypochondria, the U.K.’s exit from the European Union (Brexit) was also mistakenly portrayed as a xenophobic or racist reaction to non-white immigration and has formed a key part of the narrative that the U.K. is a racist country.

However, in terms of post-Brexit visas, all the highest groups granted skilled work visas originate outside the European Union. In 2021, “Indian nationals account for over two-fifths (42%) of all skilled work visas granted. There was a large increase in skilled work visa grants to Nigerian nationals, which more than doubled (+108%) to 8,646 in September 2021. Compared to 2019, Nigerian nationals saw the greatest increase in skilled work visa grants, increasing by 149% (+5,173).”[12] In 2021, there were 48,540 asylum applications to the U.K., the highest number since 2003. Almost three-quarters (72%) of the initial decisions in 2021 were grants of asylum, humanitarian protection or alternative forms of leave, representing the highest number since 1990.[13] Despite this, and as the Financial Times' extensive data set shows, between “2016 and 2019, the number of immigrants to the U.K. was broadly unchanged, yet the share of Britons concerned about immigration plummeted from almost half to one in seven”.[14]

More recent polling by ICM Unlimited in January 2021 found that 62 per cent of black British people considered their British national identity to be important — only marginally lower than the more comprehensive general population figure of 64 per cent.

The British Police Service is one of Britain's most vilified public institutions. As part of their adaptation to the post-George Floyd era, they released an ‘anti-racist’ action plan in May 2022.[15]   However, the Police Service enjoys overwhelming support from ethnic minorities. ONS data shows that the U.K.’s Chinese, Bangladeshi, Indian and black African demographic had a higher confidence level in their local police force in 2019 than white British people, at over 75 per cent.[16] 

While eliminating all racism and discrimination is impossible, and where it raises its ugly head, it should always be tackled robustly, the abovementioned trends are very clear and apparent. On the one hand, we have a dominant cultural and political narrative that portrays the West and the U.K. as endemically racist. Following the killing of George Floyd and the intensification of American cultural and political trends in the U.K., this narrative of racial moral panic has grown incredibly powerful. It has helped shape British politics and led to profound changes across British institutions. Meghan and Harry’s latest Netflix caper will simply reinforce this falsehood.

On the other hand, the data shows that many ethnic minorities earn more money, have better educational outcomes, and attend universities in greater per capita numbers than the white majority. The U.K. is not only one of the least racist societies on earth, as evidenced by the remarkable success of its ethnic minorities, which itself is the result of decades of institutional efforts to integrate and welcome minorities, but it remains an open, tolerant, and welcoming country, even after Brexit that is mistakenly portrayed as xenophobic and racist in origin.

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[1] Rozado, David. ‘The Increasing Prominence of Prejudice and Social Justice Rhetoric in UK News Media’. Substack newsletter. Rozado’s Visual Analytics (blog), 2 August 2022.

The Increasing Prominence of Prejudice and Social Justice Rhetoric in UK News Media

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[2] ‘Discrimination in the European Union - September 2019 - - Eurobarometer Survey’.

[3] ‘Ethnic Group - Census Maps, ONS’. https://www.ons.gov.uk/census/maps/choropleth/identity/ethnic-group/ethnic-group-tb-20b/asian-asian-british-or-asian-welsh-bangladeshi.

[4] The Economist. ‘Britain’s Mixed-Race Population Blurs the Lines of Identity Politics’, 3 October 2020. https://www.economist.com/britain/2020/10/03/britains-mixed-race-population-blurs-the-lines-of-identity-politics.

[5] European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights. ‘Survey on Minorities and Discrimination in EU (2016)’, 4 December 2017.

[6] On data on UK Higher Education see ‘Widening Participation in Higher Education, Academic Year 2019/20’.. https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/widening-participation-in-higher-education#dataBlock-b4f0a577-b45a-420d-a148-08d821b65a1f-tables.

[7] ‘Widening Participation in Higher Education, Academic Year 2019/20’.https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/widening-participation-in-higher-education.

[8] ‘Ethnicity | University of Oxford’. https://www.ox.ac.uk/about/facts-and-figures/admissions-statistics/undergraduate-students/current/ethnicity.

[9]  On ethnic pay gaps see ‘Ethnicity Pay Gaps - Office for National Statistics’; See also ‘Earnings and Working Hours - Office for National Statistics’. Accessed 19 April 2022.

[10] ‘“Forgotten” White Working-Class Pupils Let down by Decades of Neglect, MPs Say - Committees - UK Parliament’. https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/203/education-committee/news/156024/forgotten-white-workingclass-pupils-let-down-by-decades-of-neglect-mps-say/.

[11] ‘“Forgotten” White Working-Class Pupils Let down by Decades of Neglect, MPs Say - Committees - UK Parliament’. https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/203/education-committee/news/156024/forgotten-white-workingclass-pupils-let-down-by-decades-of-neglect-mps-say/.

[12] GOV.UK. ‘Why Do People Come to the UK? To Work’. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-september-2021/why-do-people-come-to-the-uk-to-work.

[13] GOV.UK. ‘Summary of Latest Statistics’. Accessed 19 April 2022. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-december-2021/summary-of-latest-statistics.

[14] Financial Times. ‘Britain Is Now a High-Immigration Country and Most Are Fine with That’, 12 May 2022.

[15] College of Policing. ‘Police Race Action Plan Published’. June 2022.

[16] ‘Confidence in the Local Police’. Accessed 19 April 2022. https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/crime-justice-and-the-law/policing/confidence-in-the-local-police/latest.