Ethnicity labels are divisive, says Phillips

Trevor Phillips: 'I have always disliked these made-up categories'
Trevor Phillips: 'I have always disliked these made-up categories'
SUSANNAH IRELAND / THE TIMES

Official terms used to describe ethnic groups inBritain should be abandoned by the government, a former head of the equality and human rights quango said last night.

Trevor Phillips, a former chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, warned that phrases such as black and minority ethnic (BME) and black, Asian and minority ethnic (Bame) had outlived their usefulness and simply “tidied away” a mixture of real people who only shared the characteristic of not having white skin.

Speaking at the launch of an integration hub by the think tank Demos, Mr Phillips said the adoption of the terms by the government had been wrong. “These are categories that subsume everyone who happens not to be white, whether their ancestors come from East Asia, South