Five years on How Britain measures up in wake of Black Lives Matter

In 2020, after the murder of George Floyd, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in the UK to protest against structural racism within British institutions, including the police.

- Michael Goodier

The Black Lives Matter protests were the largest anti-racism rallies in the UK since the abolition of slavery and led to the government announcing a new review – the 12th since 1981 – into ethnic disparities.

Five years on, and the political mood in the United States appears to have shifted, with a new president who claims he has "ended all of the lawless, so-called diversity, equity and inclusion bullshit".

But has there been any progress on ethnic inequalities in the UK in the five years since BLM? The figures paint a mixed picture.

Policing

For many Black people in Britain, encounters with the police often take the form of stop and search.

Black people were 3.7 times more likely to be stopped and searched compared with white people in 2024 – but this marks a substantial improvement since 2019.

Other racial disparities in policing have also recently narrowed.

In 2023-24 Black men were 3.2 times more likely than white people to have force used against them by police.

That figure is down from 4.8 times more likely in 2019-20, mainly due to an increase in police using force against white people (Asian people were slightly less likely to have force used on them than white people, while those from a mixed background were about the same).

Despite the improving statistics, Black individuals were still the most likely of any ethnic group to experience almost every type of violent police tactic in England and Wales, from handcuffing to dog bites and the use of firearmsand when force was used, it often involved multiple tactics. The greatest disparity was in firearm use: Black people were 7.5 times more likely to have a gun pointed at them than white people (though the two times in which shots were fired by police in 2023-24 they were against white people). This was down from 12.2 times as likely in 2020-21.