ABSTRACT
In the main, black and Asian immigrants were forced to take jobs in Britain with lower status and skill levels than they had held prior to coming to Britain. Urged on by trade unionists and recruits from ethic minorities, the Labour and Liberal Parties favoured a more open immigration policy and a policy of cultural integration. The formation of a multicultural society became the official state policy, supported by legislation. It led to the creation of an ethos in British education, in social work, and in youth and community work, that sought to promote the integration of people's of different races within British society, to ensure equal opportunities and end discrimination, and to seek acknowledgement, as the rest of Europe did, that the future lay in racial integration. However, informal discrimination was rife not just by employers and landlords but, notoriously, by the police, the armed services and by many officials of local government and the judiciary.
