LONDON, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Only 3.4 percent of Britain's most powerful and influential people are from black and minority ethnic groups, the Guardian newspaper reported Monday, citing an analysis highlighting startling inequality despite decades of British legislation to address discrimination.
From a list of just over 1,000 political, financial, judicial, cultural and security figures drawn up by the Guardian in partnership with Operations Black Vote and in consultation with academics, only 36 were from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME).
The proportion of women from black and minority ethnic backgrounds on the list of Britain's most powerful people is 0.7 percent, representing a grand total of seven, said the newspaper.
The numbers betray a disconnection with the composition of the UK population, 12.9 percent of whom have an ethnic minority background. In some sectors -- the politics, the military, the supreme court and the security services, as well as top consultancies and law firms -- there were no non-white people in position of leadership.
The analysis looked at the ethnicity of 1,049 people across 30 categories covering politics and the civil service, policing, defence and the judiciary, stock exchange companies and business, professional services including the heads of law, accountancy, advertising, consulting and publishing firms, arts bodies, the media, trade unions, top universities, sporting bodies, and health and medical services.
"The results call into question the effectiveness of legislation such as the 2000 Race Relations Act and 2010 Equality Act," the newspaper added.
