CITIZENSHIP: FROM RIGHT TO PRIVILEGE > The 2021 report of the Commission for Race and Ethnic Disparities (CRED), set up by prime minister Boris Johnson and headed by Dr Tony Sewell, denied institutional racism and claimed that in the meritocracy that is modern Britain, any inequalities result largely from specific cultural or biological factors;79 > The ‘new approach to equalities’ set out by equalities minister Liz Truss, denies the existence of structural racism and prioritises ‘diversity of ideas’, choice and opportunity over protection of racial and religious minorities, which is seen as ‘favouritism’.80 The prospects for racial equality among citizens and for legal protections of rights are likely to be further weakened by the Bill of Rights Bill currently going through Parliament, which will make it more difficult to bring cases alleging breaches of human rights and remove protections against deportation. Even the much-vaunted special protection for freedom of speech has no application in the fields of immigration and citizenship. The message campaigners need to put across is that citizenship is a right, not a privilege, a foundational status which must be enjoyed equally by all citizens. Those who have fallen foul of the law should be subjected to criminal investigation, and if appropriate, to prosecution – but citizenship should not be bought or sold, toyed with or weaponised. Further reading All Party Parliamentary Group on Trafficked Britons in Syria, Report of Inquiry, 2022. Copsey et al, Anti-Muslim hate crime and the far Right, Teesside U/ TellMAMA, July 2013. Fekete, Liz, A suitable enemy: racism, migration and Islamophobia in Europe, Pluto, 2009. Gibney, Matthew, ‘Should citizenship be conditional? Denationalisation and liberal principles’, RSC working paper 75, Refugee Studies Centre, Oxford, 2011. Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, Instrumentalising citizenship in the fight against terrorism: a global comparative analysis of legislation on deprivation of nationality as a security measure, March 2022. Kundnani, Arun, The Muslims are coming! Verso, 2014. 79 See Jenny Bourne, ‘Sewell: a report for neoliberal times’, IRR News, 20 April 2021; 80 See Liz Fekete, ‘When equalities are marketised, rights suffer’, IRR News, 13 May 2021; ‘Fight for fairness: Liz Truss’ speech sets out government’s new approach to equality’, FE News, 17 December 2020. 21