Countryside is not racist, says Suella Braverman
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The British countryside is not racist, Suella Braverman has said following claims from a group of wildlife charities that it is a “racist and colonial” space.
Wildlife and Countryside Link, a charity umbrella group whose members include the RSPCA, WWF and National Trust, made the claim in evidence provided to Parliament on racism and its influence on the natural world.
But Mrs Braverman, the former home secretary, rebuffed the claims on social media and wrote: “No, the countryside is not racist.
“Since my childhood, I’ve spent countless holidays camping, trekking, fruit-picking, orienteering and enjoying the British countryside. My ethnicity never posed a problem.”
Mrs Braverman, 43, is of Indian origin, with her family belonging to the Indian diaspora. Her mother and father immigrated to the UK from Mauritius and Kenya respectively in the 1960s.
She continued: “The great thing about the UK is that people are welcome if they have a positive attitude and respect others. Let’s keep it that way by focusing on character, not skin colour.”
Mrs Braverman, who is the MP for Fareham, in Hampshire, added: “Other than the beautiful Hampshire countryside of the South Downs and New Forest, the Brecon Beacons is my absolute favourite. But reaching the summit of Glenshee was amazing too.”
The Wildlife and Countryside Link report was submitted to MPs on the all-party parliamentary group for race and community in response to a call for evidence on links between “systemic racism” and climate change.
One section of the report argued: “Cultural barriers reflect that in the UK, it is White British cultural values that have been embedded into the design and management of green spaces, and into society’s expectations of how people should be engaging with them.”
Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones, the founder of The Black Farmer food range, has also slammed the charity’s comments.
He said that people researching alleged racism “tend to be from white liberal backgrounds” and are “always pushing the narrative that blacks are victims”.
He added: “That is my greatest frustration – if you’re black, somehow you’ve got to be a victim of something.
“It’s going to perpetuate the idea that parts of Britain are a no-go area for people from a certain background. People might assume it’s racist, but they are listening to the narrative – I could tell them the reality.”
Mr Emmanuel-Jones, 66, was born in Jamaica and moved to the UK in the early 1960s. He grew up in the Small Heath area of Birmingham, harbouring a dream of owning land in the countryside.
After working in television, he began farming land on the border of Devon and Cornwall at St Giles on the Heath, and was awarded an MBE in the 2020 New Year Honours for services to British farming.
He added: “You can’t go to rural Britain and expect it to be the same as being in an urban environment, but because it’s different doesn’t mean it’s racist. If you want to advance diversity in this country, you can’t keep presenting the countryside as racist.”
