Theresa May’s launch of an equality audit has drawn a largely approving response. Her instincts are undoubtedly decent. She wants to be fair and inclusive. What’s not to like? Well, rather a lot.

The prime minister’s core assumption is that there is something fundamentally rotten in British society. Her new audit, she says, will expose “difficult truths” about racial disparities. The aim is to “give every person the ability to check how their race affects the way they are treated by public services”.

The notion that Britain is intrinsically prejudiced and discriminatory is grossly unfounded. This audit, moreover, won’t reveal how people are being treated. All it will show is the outcomes they experience.

The aim is to enable people from different ethnic groups to