Discrimination tribunals in Met surge by 110 per cent

Spiralling: the number of claims lodged against the Metropolitan Police has more than doubled in 12 months

- AMY-CLARE MARTIN & NADINE WHITE

Racism is getting worse in Britain's biggest police force, Black police leaders have warned, as new figures reveal that tribunals for racial discrimination have soared by 110 per cent in a year.

Employment tribunal data obtained exclusively by The Independent shows that cases brought against the Metropolitan Police on the grounds of racism more than doubled from 2022 to 2023.

Andy George, president of the National Black Police Association (NPBA), said he had seen a 2.5-fold increase in support cases since the force was found to be institutionally racist for the second time in a damning review last year.

One serving Black police officer, who has raised a grievance over race discrimination, said racism was now “blatant”, adding: “There are also a lot of angry white people in the force, who are upset by so-called ‘wokeness’ and take it out on people even more.”

Another serving officer, of ethnic minority heritage, told The Independent about male peers describing her as “exotic” and having “animalistic characteristics”, and described their fascination with her race as “almost like a fetish”.

Other examples of racism included offensive language being used in staff WhatsApp groups, victimisation if colleagues lodge complaints about discrimination, and ethnic minority officers being subjected to “unfair” disciplinary proceedings.

Former Met Police superintendent Leroy Logan, who founded the NPBA, said the figures remind him of a pre-Macpherson-era Met – a time when the force was found to have bungled the investigation into the racist murder of teenager Stephen Lawrence.