Keir Starmer today appointed Doreen Lawrence as his race adviser, with a brief to investigate why coronavirus is disproportionately killing black and minority ethnic people.
Baroness Lawrence, the mother of murdered London teenager Stephen, has become one of the country’s most influential campaigners for racial equality and justice.
Official figures show more than a third of people in intensive care due to coronavirus are from BAME backgrounds - almost triple the proportion of BAME people in the wider population.
All 14 doctors known to have died from the virus were from BAME backgrounds.
Mr Starmer and Lady Lawrence held a video conference with British Medical Association char Chaand Nagpaul and representatives from the Royal College of Nurses, Sikh Network, the Jewish Medical Association and the Muslim Council of Britain.
The reason for BAME people falling seriously ill in greater numbers is not known, but experts say it could be linked to incomes or greater exposure to the virus in workplaces and travel.
Stephen Lawrence was stabbed to death by a racist gang while waiting for a bus in Eltham on 22 April 1993. The failings of the initial police investigation led to the Met being branded “institutionally racist” in an official report.
