Council ranks term 'British' with 'negroes' and bans it in case it upsets Scots, Welsh and minorities



The word ‘British’ can be as offensive as ‘negro’ and ‘half-caste’, according to a race relations body.



The publicly-funded organisation’s views have been adopted by Caerphilly council in South Wales for a leaflet advising staff on how to deal with the public.



In a section on what words or phrases not to use to avoid causing offence, the leaflet solemnly informs the council’s 9,000 workers: ‘The idea of “British” implies a false sense of unity – many Scots, Welsh and Irish resist being called British and the land denoted by the term contains a wide variety of cultures, languages and religions.’





Caerphilly, where council workers have been warned not to use the term 'British' for fear of offending ethnic minorities

The suggestion the word ‘British’ should be avoided appears alongside similar sections which warn that ‘half-caste’ implies ‘a person is not whole and so should be avoided’ and that ‘negro’ has ‘racist overtones and is linked with the slave trade’.



The man behind the advice is former Labour minister Ron Davies – who lost his Cabinet job in 1998 after what he described as a ‘moment of madness’, when he was robbed after meeting a man on Clapham Common, a well-known gay haunt.

He has been the head of Valleys Race Equality Council (Valrec) for five years. Valrec is funded by councils and the Commission for Racial Equality and it pays Mr Davies £27,000 a year.







Equalities Director Ron Davies (left), issued guidelines to council workers warning them not to use the term 'British' but Conservative MP David Davies (right) condemned the guidelines as 'political correctness gone mad'

He said: ‘It’s just for information, there’s no advice or instruction. Of this council’s employees, 3,900 describe themselves as white British, whereas 5,400 describe themselves as white Welsh.



‘So this information is very much in accordance with the way that people in Caerphilly identify themselves.’



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But Tory MP David Davies, MP for Monmouth said: ‘There’s absolutely nothing offensive about describing people as British.



‘This is political correctness gone mad. Organisations like this are using public money to propagate their own narrow nationalistic ideas.



'Perhaps they should be replaced by a single body that promotes Britishness and encourages everyone in this country, whether black, Asian or white to unite and stand together under the British flag.’



Rugby legend Gareth Edwards, who won 53 caps for Wales and ten for the British Lions, said last night: ‘I’m very proud to be Welsh and if anybody asks me where I’m from, I’ll say Wales. But I’m also British – I’ve played for the British Lions and I’m very proud of that too.’



Less than one per cent of Caerphilly’s 170,000 residents are from ethnic minorities – and figures from the last census suggest only 15 per cent of the total identify themselves as Welsh.



Asked about the leaflet, entitled Equalities in the Delivery of Council Services, a council spokesman said: ‘We are committed to equality and we always try to ensure that everyone is treated equally, regardless of sex, race or religion.

‘However, we also recognise that political correctness can sometimes be taken too far and we try to strike the right balance.’