How will this create community cohesion?

The Government’s new approach to race relations and issues of how we all live together in a highly diverse society is called “Community Cohesion”. Great. Of course we all want to live in a cohesive society where there are strong and effective relationships between people of different backgrounds.

But the reality of the proposal is anything but cohesive, as anyone who’s read the government’s community cohesion consultation document knows. Essentially the government is now trying to dissuade funders from providing funding for single issue or single ethnic groups on the grounds that such funding encourages separation rather than “cohesion”. Lasa have published a paper in response.

In times of crisis people seek help from within their own community. Sometimes it’s the only place where they can get advice. And for marginalized groups that advice can then be a springboard into the mainstream.

The government’s approach goes against almost all of the evidence about how immigrants and refugees settle successfully in the UK. To withdraw funding from all these groups is the wrong answer to the wrong question.