In London, while 37% of people identified as “White English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish or British”, 53.8% of people identified as white in total.

Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage has been condemned after falsely claiming that the latest census figures from the ONS showed that cities such as London and Manchester now have a minority white population.

Farage, who has made a career out of whipping up a moral panic over immigration, went on a rant last week, sharing  a video on Twitter with the caption: “According to the ONS figures, London, Manchester and Birmingham are now all minority white cities.”

Farage’s claim was then picked up on by newspapers such as the Tory supporting Telegraph, which included the headline “Whites a minority in London, Birmingham and Manchester”, though the article did go on to clarify it was referring to people who identified as “White British”.

The claim by the former UKIP leader has now been taken apart by fact checking websites as well as the BBC, who reported that Farage is wrong on ‘most of his claim’. Farage’s claim does not factor in people who identified as white but not white British, and so is not true for either London or Manchester.

In London, while 37% of people identified as “White English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish or British”, 53.8% of people identified as white in total, including those who identified as “White Irish”, “White Gypsy or Irish Traveller”, “White Roma” or “Other White”.

In Manchester, 56.8% of people identified as white when taking all white ethnic categories into account, while 48.7% identified as “White English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish or British”.

Claims that Birmingham is “minority white” according to the most recent census are correct.

According to the most recent census data, 48.6% of people identified as white across all white ethnic groups in the city, while 42.9% of people identified as “White English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish or British”.

Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward

Comments are closed.