WHEN he took office as First Minister of Wales in March, Vaughan Gething became the first black head of government in Europe — yet he believes that United Kingdom society is more overtly racist than a decade ago.
"On virtually every piece of social media that went out for my campaign, there'd be a stream of messages underneath it that were questioning my right to be here," the leader of the Welsh Labour party said in an interview last week.
"And some were much more overt than that."
Zambian-born Gething, 50, said there had been even more offensive and racist material directed at him since he took up the post, but he tries not to look at it.
Gething's Welsh father went to Africa as a vet and married his mother, a Zambian chicken farmer. When the family relocated to Wales, his father was rejected from one job after the employer saw his wife and children were black.
Times have changed. People from ethnic minorities are reaching Britain's highest offices on a scale unseen elsewhere in Europe.
Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is of Indian background. And until recently, the position of Scottish first minister was held by Hamza Yousaf, of Pakistani heritage.
Gething believes that viewing his election as a sign of Britain's successful multiculturalism is too simplistic and masks a recent resurgence of racism despite undoubted progress in the decades since his father's return from Zambia.
London's mayor election earlier this month, for example, was marred by racist commentary and threats to the incumbent Sadiq Khan, a Muslim.
"You see division that is more overt... You see a change in tone where people are happier to say things out loud that they would not have said in 2005," Gething said from the Welsh parliament building overlooking Cardiff Bay.
In the last 2019 UK general election, 66 members of parliament of ethnic minority background won seats — compared with 15 in 2005.
The next Parliament, after a vote expected later this year, will be the "most diverse ever", the British Futures think tank predicts, with 12 per cent of lawmakers from ethnic minority background.
Shabna Begum, chief executive officer of the Runnymede Trust, a racial equality think tank, said parties have come a long way in selecting minority candidates previously considered "unelectable".
"But there is a disconnect. What we see is a great diversity in political leadership that hasn't translated into better politics for working class ethnic minority people."
Racial inequality is, in fact, deepening in Britain. Average incomes as a ratio of the poverty line fell by six per cent over the previous decade for black and minority ethnic people, compared with one per cent for whites, according to a Runnymede study from October 2022.
The disparity is highest in Wales, where minorities are 3.5 times more likely to be in poverty than white compatriots.
Race-related hate crimes recorded by police in England and Wales have risen 43 per cent in the five years to 2023.
Some ethnic minority voters, who historically favour Labour, are feeling alienated due to the party's position on the Gaza conflict and backtracking on equality pledges, said Neema Begum, assistant professor in politics at Nottingham University.
"It's a signal that Labour is taking black and minority voters for granted, but there's enough disgruntlement with the (ruling) Conservative Party as well, so there isn't really an alternative," she said.
In Butetown, a diverse working class neighbourhood a short walk from the Welsh Parliament or Senned, community activist Steve Khaireh has noticed increased demand at the food bank and that kids turn up hungry to the youth club he runs.
The main problem is the lack of stable employment, he said.
"You go to Cardiff Bay, to the Senned, the Council, the fire service, you don't see anyone working there: no-one from this area, no-one with this colour," he said, referring to his skin.
Gething wants to grow the economy, particularly around the renewable energy industry, to put more money into public services, and to review the "anti-racist Wales action plan" launched in 2022.
Gething trained as a lawyer at Wales' Aberystwyth and Cardiff universities, becoming leader of the national student union of Wales and then of the Wales Trade Union Congress: the first black person to hold either position.
The writers are from Reuters
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times