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The town branded too white and too British
Last updated at 00:37am on 01.03.07
Corby (top) is 93.7% white, while Leicester (middle) is 59.6%. Louise Bagshawe (bottom) received the letter from Ann Beasley (inset)
A town is being stripped of scores of public sector jobs because its residents are "too white and British".
The Prison Service is relocating the posts to a nearby city where there are more ethnic minorities.
The incredible decision, which could lead to an investigation by the Commission for Racial Equality, was disclosed yesterday in a leaked official letter.
It is the first known case of its kind, but MPs warned similar moves could secretly be taking place across the country as civil servants are under enormous pressure from ministers to boost the number of ethnic minorities working in the public sector.
The 80 office jobs are being transferred from the depressed former steel town of Corby, in Northamptonshire, to Leicester.
The Tory General Election candidate for the town, which suffers from deprivation and is in desperate need of jobs, wrote to the Prison Service to demand an explanation.
In an astonishing reply, director of finance Ann Beasley - one of Home Secretary John Reid's top civil servants - said the town had too many white British residents.
As a result, it does not satisfy the drive to recruit more ethnic minorities.
Under the heading "key influencing factors", the letter states: "Our ability to attract a more diverse workforce - 93.7 per cent of the population of Corby are white British, compared to 59.6 per cent in Leicester>"
Mrs Beasley also implies Corby's residents are also too stupid to keep the jobs, which are mostly clerical posts buying equipment for the prison service.
She states that 17 per cent of people living in Leicester are qualified to degree level, compared with only nine per cent in Corby.
Furious opposition politicians were stunned by the reply and accused Labour of effectively being racist against whites.
The Conservative's diversity spokesman, Dominic Grieve, said: "This is very worrying. The Government should not be penalising people because of the ethnic make-up of where they live. The Government needs to explain just how widespread this policy is."
Louise Bagshawe, the candidate who received the letter, said: "Labour has controlled Corby council for 23 years and the town is very deprived. We have the lowest wages in Northamptonshire. Now locals are being told that Corby is too British for British jobs."
She added: "I told Ann Beasley our town already has a thriving Polish immigrant community, but she ignored this. Corby is just beginning to turn the corner, but we need good jobs.
"Gordon Brown loves to bang on about Britishness - if he means it, I call on him to reverse this disgraceful policy and tell Corby people they aren't too "white British" for Government jobs."
Kettering's Tory MP Philip Hollobone, whose constituents are also facing job losses, added: "People will be hugely offended that a decision like this is being made on racial grounds."
The Home Office last night stood by the letter, saying that attracting a "more diverse workforce" was a "key factor" in moving the jobs.
Discriminating against somebody on the grounds of race is outlawed by the Race Relations Act 2000.
But the Act does allow public bodies to take "positive action" to meet recruitment targets. In this instance, it would be illegal to say that the jobs must be filled by ethnic minority recruits, but moving to an area where they are more likely to apply for the posts is not illegal.
Staff based at the Crown House building in Corby will lose their jobs on March 19 when the building closes for regeneration work.
It had been assumed the Prison Service would find a new office in the town - which has an above average unemployment rate of 5.7 per cent, compared with 5.2 per cent nationwide. But officials, keen to fall in with Labour's "diversity agenda", seized the opportunity to move jobs to Leicester, one of the UK's most ethnically-mixed cities.
Staff have been given the option of transferring, but few - if any - are expected to agree to the lengthy commute.
A spokesman for the Commission for Racial Equality said that if they receive a complaint from any of the workers involved, they will start a full investigation.
A Prison Service spokesman said: "The potential sale of the property has given Her Majesty's Prison Service the opportunity to look at what provides the best option for the Prison Service and therefore the taxpayer in the medium to longer term.
"The key factors that influenced our decision to relocate to Leicester were the closer proximity to a greater number of prison establishments, better transport links, the ability to recruit professional staff and the ability to attract a more diverse workforce."
Reader views (15)
This is truly sad. Is this what it has come to now in the UK?
- Phil, London, England
Discrimination in Britain is like a pendulum, swinging back and forth. Non-white Commonwealth immigrants were its first and most enduring victims. However, the two things that remain central are the failure to inform the general population about immigration objectives and the increasing lack of resources and opportunities as hugely wealthy individuals occupy too much influence over governments. Electorates vote governments into power for their own benefit, not to benefit privileged private individuals. Governments must never forget this. Before any large-scale immigration begins the cases for and against should be debated. Any immigrants that then arrive are better received and likely to integrate far more quickly. Now, instead, in Britain one finds growing silos of exclusion, deprivation and antagonism because the government simply is not listening to the public and is not perceived as balancing competing needs fairly.
- D. Gray, Toronto, ex-Birmimgham
Come on now! When the working class (labour) became "human resources", you should have bought a clue.
- Mrs. D., Toronto
This is truly sad. You're all welcome to come live in Canada.
- Mrs. D., Toronto
Let's face it if you are in work, white and law abiding this country does not want you anymore!
- Dave Bristol, Bristol England
This is an insult to the town that gave us the world's greatest trouser press. Hotel guests the world over would, I am sure, be choking on the contents of their minibars if they knew how the inhabitants were being treated. Disgusting!
- Jk, London
The socialists have taken over the Western world. thanks to all the mushy, vote-seeking politicians who have sold the futures of their own offspring and distant descendants down the proverbial drain.
- Ron Bezant, Milton, Ontario, Canada
We shouldn't be surprised at this, it's simply one more example of the tyranny of "PC" and the love of control exercised by "New" Labour.
- Stan, USA
I don't think we should stand for this, can we organise a campaign against this discriminative behaviour? I for one would be happy to make a stand. How many people in Corby are the children of people who fought in the war for this country? The world has gone mad and it’s our responsibility to take action now and stop accepting what we all believe is unacceptable.
- Gareth, Hackney
Would they pull jobs away from a town that was over represented by minorities? Of course they wouldn't, because it would be deemed racist, so how is this any different and when did it become politically correct to discriminate against white British citizens? Labour seems to care more about ethnic minorities and immigrants than it does about common sense and Britain in general; They ignore public views and just do whatever they feel like, which is the main reason they will never win the next election.
- Brandon Thomas, London UK
Mrs Beasley - get out of your spreadsheets. Stop treating human beings as statistics and have some sense.
It is stupidity in the extreme to compare Corby with Leicester. Leicester is an amazing city, with one of the most mixed populations in the UK, built up over years and only one of a very few cities with such integrated diversity.
Corby is a town which has suffered ever since the close down of the steel plants. It was good enough to move lots of people from Scotland to Corby to keep those running. As some one who grew up near Corby the last thing this town needs is the ridiculous influence of civil servants who have forgotten that their "responsibility" and "duty" is to serve the citizens of this country and not to treat them as abstract statistics.
Corby is just starting to regenerate itself and it needs more support not this idiocy.
Get some humanity or leave your job Mrs Beasley - you obviously haven't a clue.
- Julia, London
I dislike racism on any level but moaning that there are too many whites in an English town is just daft.
- Paul Ballans, Rotherham, South Yorkshire
This just seems to be another example of “Positive Discrimination” that happens all too often these days in the UK. With a government who is increasingly pushing its non biased stance on everything. That is apart from equality for white British people. There is nothing positive about discrimination.
- Gareth, London
This is one reason why many people will be turning away from Labour this time round and also the Tories who are just as stupid.
- Steve, London, England
Does this surprise anyone? Labour is forgetting its heartland constituency. It's being left behind by political correct nonsense. The electors of Corby will at some point have a say over this travesty. Are Labour so deluded and stupid that they think this sort of action is acceptable?
- Michael Riley, London
