BORIS Johnson has been urged to "turbocharge" the Government's response to tackling racism.
Leader of the opposition Sir Keir Starmer challenged the Prime Minister to take more urgent action on inequalities during Prime Minsiter's Questons this afternoon.
Speaking in the House of Commons chamber, the Labour leader said the PM had been too slow to act on recommendations in reports such as that conducted by David Lammy on inequalities within the criminal justice system, as well as findings from the Windrush scandal.
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He said: “There have been at least seven reports into racial inequality in the last three years alone but precious little action. For example, most of the recommendations in the Lammy Report into inequality in the criminal justice system have yet to be implemented three years after the report was published.”
He added: “So will the Prime Minister now turbocharge the Government’s responses and tell us when he’ll implement in full the Lammy Report and the Windrush recommendations?”
Mr Johnson replied: “Of course I understand, as I said, I understand the very strong and legitimate feelings of people in this country at the death of George Floyd and of course I agree that black lives matter.
“And we are getting on with the implementation, and not just of the Lammy Report, but also the report into Windrush.”
He added: “But I must stress that on the Lammy Report and on all these matters it is absolutely vital at the same time that we keep our streets safe and that we back our police – and that is what we are going to do.”
Meanwhile SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford accused Mr Johnson of not reading scientific papers on lockdown easing, and questioned him over reports his cabinet have discussed relaxing the 2m social distancing rules.
He said: " “We know that the Cabinet has discussed reducing the two-metre social distancing rule but that’s not the experts’ advice right now.
“Sage reported that being exposed to the virus for six-seconds at one metre is the same as being exposed for one minute at two metres.
“That is a significant increase in risk.”
The Prime Minister responded: "There are all sorts of views about the two-metre rule, he’s absolutely correct in what he says about the Sage advice.
“But clearly, as the incidence of the disease comes down, as I think members of Sage would confirm, the statistical likelihood of being infected – no matter how close or far you are from somebody who may or may not have coronavirus – goes down.”
Mr Blackford's part colleague Stewart McDonald told the PM the UK had woeful statutory sick pay provision, and asked whether he would work with opposition parties to improve it.
However the Prime Minister said the government had already offered significant help during the coronavirus crisis in the form of the Job Retention Scheme and bounce-back loans for businesses.
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Sir Ed Davey, acting leader of the Liberal Democrats said Boris Johnson had to end "suspicionless stop and search" powers for police, citing that black people are 47 times morelikely to be searched than white people in the UK.
He said the Prime Minister must "end the pain and injustice they wreak on so many people in Britain’s black and minority communities" and added: "On too many occasions, stop-and-search seems to mean being black is enough to be suspected of being a criminal.”
Mr Johnson said the powers were "very important" in tackling violent crime, and in particular knife crime.
He said: "It is very important that stop-and-search is carried out sensitively in accordance with the law. But I must say, I do think that it can be, Section 60 powers can be very important in fighting violent crime.
“And I’m afraid that what has been happening in London with knife crime has been completely unacceptable and I do believe that stop-and-search, many other things, can be a very important utensil in fighting knife crime.”
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