The area of Birmingham that are no-go areas for white people

Jan 3 2009 By Adam Aspinall

have really happened, but rather a coded way to signal that the speaker contests the frame within which all the unfairness is experienced by ethnic minorities.”

Communities Secretary Hazel Blears, who last year blamed the rise of the ultra-right BNP on politicians abandoning the working class, said the concerns of Castle Vale residents should not be branded racist.

She said: “People who care about their communities and have lived there for generations have every right to ask questions about what is happening there.

“The job of politicians is to listen and respond, to have the very debates that people in these estates are having – or we risk losing touch with them altogether.”

But Tory spokeswoman Lady Warsi said the study showed a “ticking timebomb of racial and class prejudice”.

She added: “What an indictment of New Labour. Over the last 10 years they have completely lost touch with their so-called roots.

“This should be a call to focus on the core problems.”

The Sunday Mercury revealed in 2007 how large numbers of white people are leaving Birmingham for other parts of Britain – while the number of ethnic community groups in the city continues to grow rapidly.

The disclosures were made by researchers at Manchester University who said it is expected that the number of whites in Birmingham will drop by nearly a fifth over the next 20 years – from 65 per cent in 2006 to 48 per cent in 2026.

Meanwhile, the number of Pakistanis in the city will increase from 13 per cent in 2006 to 48 per cent in 2026.

It is believed the percentage of other ethnic groups, including African, Caribbean, Indian, Bangladeshi and Chinese, will remain roughly around the same.

According to the report, Birmingham will become only the second British city in which whites will no longer be the majority group.

The change-round will have happened by 2024, following in the footsteps of Leicester, where it is expected the white population will find itself in the minority in 12 years’ time.