THE PAST four years had revealed that the amount of people from minority ethnic backgrounds in key public positions has more than doubled, according to analysis from a campaign group.

Throughout the top political, public, cultural and media sectors there were up to 73 black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) people occupying positions 23 July 2021, according to data collated by Operation Black Vote (OBV).

This is more than twice the 36 public figures found by the same campaigners in 2017.

Despite the positive figures, it has been warned that “the struggle continues.” According to figures from Diversity UK, around 14% of the UK’s population is from a BAME background. Among the list of 1,100 powerful figures, it shows 6.3% were from ethnic minorities, with only 19 (1.6%) BAME women. While in 2017,  3.4% were from ethnic minorities and just seven (0.7%) were BAME women.

Significant change has been seen in politics from both the Labour and the Conservatives parties with the prime minister appointing up to six cabinet members and seven ministers from a BAME background to his government.

Labour also recorded a high number with four BAME mayors and eleven council leaders.

Further smaller changes were identified in the education as up to six people from ethnic minority backgrounds are vice-chancellors and appointed to university, meanwhile up to three people with BAME heritage are now at top NHS trust and six more occupy senior positions at FTSE 100 firms.

Non-white people, however, continue to be underrepresented in top positions in the police, supreme court and the security services.

Simon Woolley, director and co-founder of OBV, believes the death of George Floyd and the surge of the Black Lives Matters movement last summer, had prompted different organisation to have uncomfortable conversations around race inequality. “These conversations had almost never been heard before,” he told the Guardian. “OBV’s groundbreaking data would suggest that those conversations are now translating into real change in regards to what power looks like.