Hayes in the House:
White Working-Class Boys: The Forgotten Demographic
It is shocking that public sector recruitment for a growing number of roles now explicitly excludes white applicants.
Similarly, internships and development schemes for which only black Asian minority ethnic (‘BAME’) candidates can apply are increasingly numerous. At the Bank of England, the senior leadership decided that by 2028, 10 per cent of the graduate intake ought to be black – far exceeding the proportion of black people in the nation as a whole (4 per cent). Meanwhile, it goes without saying that white people cannot apply to the charity-run programme ‘10,000 black internships’! Perhaps, given that charities are supposed to benefit the public, the Charity Commission should take a look at practice that is so implicitly discriminatory.
Previously I have exposed NHS Trusts that, though supposedly desperate for staff, manipulate interview shortlists – under the guise of diversity drives – to prioritise minority ethnic groups. The armed forces are also guilty of prejudice. In 2023, the RAF was found, in accelerating the careers of women and minority ethnic candidates, to have unlawfully discriminated against white male applicants. In all of these instances, bias against white people is obvious. Given that these roles are in banking, health, and the military, where the greatest trust is required, it is of grave concern that candidates’ aptitude or ability is deemed less significant to something beyond their control – their ethnicity.
Still more disturbingly, a principle at the core of an open society, central to our shared sense of fairness, is being undermined: that anyone can achieve anything on the basis of merit.
As white people face exclusion from career opportunities, they are simultaneously amongst the most educationally disadvantaged. The schooling of working-class white boys has been neglected by successive Governments. Yet the plight of this cohort has attracted none of the agonised advocacy which the guilt-ridden liberal bourgeoise afford to minorities. The educational attainment of white boys on free school meals (FSM) is the worst of any demographic – and though this has been so for some time, little has been done about it.
Last year, only 36 per cent of white British boys on FSM reached the expected standard in maths and English GCSEs. The equivalent figures for other FSM cohorts are telling: 39 per cent for boys of black Caribbean heritage and 58 per cent for black African background boys. Boys of Bangladeshi and Chinese heritage perform even better, with 68 per cent and 82 per cent respectively.
The disparity in fortunes continues beyond school. Just 14 per cent of working-class white boys progressed into higher education in 2023, whereas, more than half of black and Asian students of the same socio-economic profile did so. There is also a widening gender divergence as women accepted onto undergraduate courses exceed men by 28 per cent.
It is outrageous that the demographic which suffers the weakest educational attainment is met with policies that worsen their prospects by limiting access to certain opportunities because they happen to be the wrong colour. Addressing how white working-class boys have been left behind does not mean abandoning the interests of other groups, but it does mean that an individual’s effort, capability, and suitability should determine how well they do.
It is time to give those who begin life with the fewest advantages the most help, regardless of their sex, colour, or creed.