Race Relations Acts, 1965-2000

Britain in the 20th century

Reforming race relations: new rules and regulation

The Labour Government that came into office in 1964 was led by Prime Minister Harold Wilson. He had a very small majority in the House of Commons. In 1963 there had been a protest in the city of Bristol against a local bus company, because it was discriminating against black people in its recruitment of workers on its buses. Wilson had promised the leader of this Bristol Bus Boycott, Paul Stephenson, that when a Labour Government came into office, it would pass a law against discrimination. The boycott was successful, but they had to wait two years before there was a change in the law.

Race Relations Act 1965

This act outlawed discrimination in public places; it established the Race Relations Board and the National Committee for Commonwealth Immigrants. It didn’t apply to jobs or housing which were two clear areas of discrimination.

When Wilson’s government applied restrictions to Kenyan Asian in 1968 (the Commonwealth Immigrants Act), it also passed a new Act against discrimination. There had been a lot of dissent (disagreement) in the Labour party about the restrictions on immigration, and the new anti-discrimination measure was a way of Wilson balancing things.

Race Relations Act 1968

This act widened anti-discrimination to include housing, employment and service provision. However, the act still didn’t apply to the police force in its duties.

By the 1970s it was clear that the laws on racial discrimination needed to be tightened if Britain wanted to see any hope of achieving racial equality. In 1976 the Labour government passed a further act that toughened the policy.

Race Relations Act of 1976

This Act finally extended the definition of discrimination to include indirect discrimination - any practice that disadvantaged a particular racial group. Individuals who felt that they had been discriminated against could take their complaints to the courts or industrial tribunals.

Despite all of these new acts, there was still no law against racial discrimination by the police in the conduct of their work. In 1999 the Macpherson Report concluded that the Metropolitan Police force was 'institutionally racist'. The point being made was that the way the police force was organised caused black people to be at a serious disadvantage to white people. Following this report, a new Act was passed in 2000:

Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000

This Act brought the police into the scope of race relations legislation. It placed a duty on public authorities to actively promote race equality.

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