Yahoo News Tory MP hits out at 'woke' society for not helping 'white lads'
A Tory MP has called for “woke” society to address the “taboo” subject of white working-class boys being hit by “inherent disadvantage”.
Ben Bradley said the educational attainment of white boys from disadvantaged backgrounds was inferior to that of boys of every other ethnicity.
The Mansfield MP said “white boys need more help” in a Westminster Hall debate on Wednesday.
He earlier said on his Facebook page that “woke” society is marginalising the issues of white males and called for a “move beyond identity politics where it’s almost frowned upon to raise the plight of white lads in communities like Mansfield”.
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Bradley later told MPs: “By age five, already, white boys from disadvantaged backgrounds are 13% behind disadvantaged black boys or 23% behind disadvantaged Asian girls. Only around a third of white working class boys pass their maths and English GCSEs, they are 40% less likely to go into higher education than disadvantaged black boys.
“These white working-class boys are being let down by an in-built and inherent disadvantage. I am concerned this is being brushed under the carpet, not by government necessarily… but by modern society which refuses to see the plight of young white males, even those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
“I am concerned that in too many places, this is a taboo subject, it’s something we can’t talk about, the fact that white boys need more help.”
He concluded: “We are missing a trick if we’re not focusing on ensuring all children get access to a good education and life’s opportunities: children of all ethnicities and backgrounds. That means we can’t continue to not talk about the plight of disadvantaged white boys who are consistently bottom of the pile.
“We hear a lot in the media and this place [Parliament] about white male privilege and it seems to overtake discussion a lot.
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“I would challenge those people to come to my community, where men spent their whole lives digging coal underground to keep your lights on and are now dying of lung disease as a result, to talk to them about their privilege which their children and grandchildren that I am talking about need help.”
Bradley has previously hit out at “woke identity politics that only prevails inside the M25”.
He hit the headlines last month when he labelled a call to ban sports banter in the workplace as “lefty claptrap”.
