BRITS have become far more open-minded in their attitudes to race over the past decade, a major new poll reveals.
The vast majority of Brits – 89 per cent – said they would be happy for their child to marry someone from another ethnic group.
This is up from 75 per cent who said this in January 2009, the Ipsos Mori survey found.
While 93 per cent of those polled said they disagree with the statement that “to be truly British you have to be white” – up from 82 per cent in October 2006.
And 45 per cent of people believe there is more racial tolerance in Britain today than there was ten years ago.
Yet despite this progress, some 69 per cent of Brits said there is still a fair amount of racial tension in the UK.
Meanwhile, 33 per cent of people believe black people are treated worse by Britain’s public services.
Kully Kaur-Ballagan, research director at Ipsos Mori, said: “These findings show that on a personal level, people are more positive about racial diversity.
“For example, saying they would be happy for their child to marry someone from a different ethnic background and the fact that the overwhelming majority of people reject that being British means being white.
“But the study highlights that perceptions of systemic racism are still prevalent with around three in ten believing that black and Asian people are treated worse by public services than white.
“And there is still a lack of confidence that the police have addressed all the failings highlighted by the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry.
“As the Black Lives Matter protests have highlighted, many people still think there is lots of work to be done in addressing inequalities.”
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