Yahoo Movies Sajid Javid's Perfect Two-Word Takedown Of Nigel Farage's Rant About UK Ethnicity
Nigel Farage's latest rant was dismantled perfectly by Sajid Javid
Sajid Javid expertly dismantled Nigel Farage’s rant about the changing ethnicity of the UK population on Twitter on Tuesday.
Farage, known for championing the eurosceptic movement as an MEP and leader of the Brexit Party, shared a minute-long video online.
He claimed that the new 2021 census data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed “London, Manchester and Birmingham are all minority white cities” now.
The controversial politician summarised there was a “massive change taking place in this country through immigration”.
But, the former health secretary Javid responded to Farage’s video by pointedly asking: “So what?”
So what? https://t.co/hPwpaDTMYI
— Sajid Javid (@sajidjavid) November 29, 2022
It’s also worth pointing out that Farage’s reading of the ONS stats wasn’t quite accurate.
The director of the think tank, British Future, Sunder Katwala tweeted: “Farage is wrong about this – on his facts.
“He is conflating ‘white’ and ‘white British’ to say ‘minority white’ for cities with a white majority.
“London is 53-54% white in the 2021 census, but 37% white British.”
He added: “The ONS could have communicated the basic facts more clearly too.”
ONS’s data found that the number of people identifying as white British in the capital has decreased from 44.9% in 2011 (3.7 million) to 26.8% (3.2 million) in 2021.
And in Birmingham, the white British population did drop from 52% in 2011 (581,000) to 43% in 2021 (491,000), while in Manchester, 48.7% now identify as white British, compared to 59.3% a decade ago.
But, "white British" is not the only category available on the census.
Respondents could identify themselves as white Irish, white Gypsy or Irish traveller, white Roma or other White, too.
And, the ONS points out: “Ethnicity is multi-dimensional and subjective with various ways in which a person may choose to define their ethnic group.
“This may include common ancestry, elements of culture, identity, religion, language and physical appearance.”
And, while the number of people who described themselves as white in England and Wales has decreased by around half a million over the last decade, it’s far from being in the minority.
In fact, a huge 81.7% of the population in England and Wales still identify as white, a decrease from 86% in 2011, but still a large majority over every other major ethnic group.
Leicester is the only city where white people are no longer the majority, with only 41% of the city identifying as white, compared to 51% a decade ago.
Speaking to LBC Radio on Wednesday, Katwala also criticised people who have expressed concerns around the changing ethnicities in the UK.
He said complaining about it is “at best unconstructive, at worst extreme”.
