British countryside is 'overwhelmingly white' and needs more halal food, report claims

Academics from the University of Leicester have penned a report on the issue of “rural racism”, which looks at the experience of ethnic minorities in the British countryside.

The report, titled ‘How Can We Make the Countryside More Inclusive?’, says non-white people experience “discomfort” and a “psychological burden” when traversing rural spaces in the UK.

Researchers from the university’s Centre for Hate Studies said the country pub culture and other “monocultural customs” are exclusionary.

Likewise, they say that the countryside lacks the “appropriate facilities to meet religious and cultural needs” because of a lack of halal, kosher, and other religious dietary options.

The report notes that “the availability of halal food or spaces for prayer could make a significant difference in whether people feel comfortable visiting the countryside”.

To tackle the perceived problem, researchers say that rural businesses should adapt to improve “cultural sensitivity”.

The report said: “Welcoming minoritised individuals into the countryside means more than tolerance; it requires thoughtful adaptation, sustained inclusion efforts and a willingness to change.”

One contributor to the report, which is based on interviews with 115 people, suggested that “you could revive rural communities by bringing in more diverse communities”.

Tim Bonner, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, told The Telegraph: “We would never downplay any individual act of racism, which must be confronted wherever it arises, but the narrative that rural communities are inherently more racist than urban ones is just nonsense.

“Recent government hate crime statistics show an inverse relationship between rurality and racist hate crimes.”

He added: “The suggestion that racism is so pronounced in rural areas as to justify continual special attention is therefore not supported by the evidence, which may explain why this study has shied away from examining data in favour of collating anecdotes.

“Ironically, those who peddle the narrative of a racist countryside are actually showing their own prejudice against rural people.”