Today's blog post is written by our public affairs intern Ashley Burton-Lynch

Lord Parekh has criticised the government for failing to consider the disproportionately negative impact the spending cuts will have on ethnic minorities. Speaking in a House of Lords debate on the impact of the cuts, he voiced his concern that the spending cuts will result in ethnic minorities suffering the most from job losses in local government and the NHS, as well as Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) third sector organisations feeling the greatest strain from grant cuts.

The Labour peer lambasted the Home Secretary for failing to carry out an equality audit in relation to the impact of the cuts on ethnic minorities despite her admission that “the cuts will affect women, (and) ethnic minorities…disproportionately”.

Drawing on work undertaken by professors from Oxford University and Bristol, Lord Parekh highlighted the fact that as ethnic minorities are not only disproportionately represented in the public sector but also less likely to be in “senior positions”, they are the most vulnerable from resultant job losses. In voicing the estimation that job losses in local government will number around 100,000, Lord Parekh made the case that ethnic minorities stand to be highly affected.

He also drew attention to the desperate situation BME voluntary organisations will be put in because of cuts in their funding as a result of the spending cuts.  He stated that, in the past two years, these organisations have had to cope with an increase of 80% in demand for their services whilst just under half survive on an income of less than £10,000. Lord Parekh argued that as “49% of their budget comes from central government, (and) 26% from local government”, they would be hit hardest at a time when their services have never been in greater demand.

In seeking to outline the wider effects of the cuts on BME people, the Labour peer echoed the sentiments of the Mayor of London by expressing his belief that there is “a real danger of residential segregation” as a result of the housing benefit cuts.

He expanded upon this point by informing the house that as “41 per cent of the Afro-Caribbean community and 47 per cent of Pakistanis and Bangladeshis depend on social housing”, it will be inevitable that “they will bear the brunt”.