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MP slams 'ghetto' claims
Sep 23 2005
By Neil Elkes, Evening Mail
A RACE relations chief's claim that the country is sleepwalking into New Orleans-style segregation were today slammed as 'offensive' by a city MP.
Commission for Racial Equality chief Trevor Phillips said the UK was heading for the kind of economic and racial division highlighted in America in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
He warned that the 'nightmare of fully-fledged ghettos' could happen here with Britain becoming more divided by race and religion and that we must learn the lessons of New Orleans.
But his remarks were today branded offensive by Perry Barr Labour MP Khalid Mahmood, who urged him to visit Birmingham to see for himself.
Mr Mahmood said: "I respect Trevor, but in this case he is talking nonsense. Housing and school allocation in the UK is made on the basis of need, not race, creed or religion. In Perry Barr schools, offices and shops we see people working and living together. There are no ghettos."
