Obsession with white working class fuels inequality in north, study warns

Politicians neglect minorities' needs due to focus on 'mystical' demographic, report says

The focus on the needs of a "mystical" white working class in the aftermath of the Brexit vote has led politicians to neglect the needs of a growing ethnic minority population across the north of England, the authors of a report warned on Thursday.

Researchers behind the paper by the Runnymede Trust and the University of Leeds said that "deep racial and ethnic inequalities" were not being adequately addressed by existing plans to boost economic growth in the region, such as the "northern powerhouse". And they argued that most discussions of the northern working class in the media and political debates since Brexit had left out minority groups who have lived in the region for decades.