Too little, too late

It's always fascinating watching a Labour government unravel at the seams when the pot runs dry and they realise that all the "special interest" groups that they've supported in the face of the majority aren't going to be enough get them re-elected.
Still, they can find the odd £12 million to throw at their former supporters in a desperate attempt to buy back their votes from the BNP (a far more socialist party than New Labour)

Alienating the white working class will corrode communities and cause tensions to boil over, the Government warned.

By Tom Whitehead, Home Affairs Editor

John Denham, the Communities Secretary, admitted fast social change, including large flows of immigration, has led to resentment in some neighbourhoods that have also been hit hard by the recession.

It comes a day after academics warned the "traditional" white working class have been left behind and isolated in a changing Britain.

Mr Denham announced a £12 million programme to target such communities and make them feel more connected.

He also said the Government needs to be more ambitious and quicker in it's reaction to easing pressures caused by sudden influxes of migrants and foreign workers.

The programme has been announced amid concerns the sense of alienation is driving some in to the hands of extremist and far right groups such as the British National Party.

However, Mr Denham stressed it was not about combating the BNP, which he said was a matter for political parties, but about "addressing the legitimate fears and concerns, which, neglected, can prove fertile territory for extremism and those who would divide our communities".

He told an audience in London: "It is not entirely surprising that the may question whether they are being fairly treated and to worry that others are, unfairly, doing better.

"Not entirely surprising, that feeling unfairly treated can lead to resentment or worse."

This by the way is the same John Denham who had a go at the working class EDL over the rioting in Harrow despite the fact that the EDL weren't even involved. Bit of a blindspot has John where it comes to troublemakers, he no doubt feels that the UAF are the champions of liberty and free speech in the UK at the moment.
However this is only £12 million, I know it sounds a lot in real terms and it is being focussed on areas of deprivation. However lets look at it in real terms and assume that bureaucratic costs don't swallow up a large chunk of it (I know, I know, but work with me here, ok)

The Equality and Human Rights Commission. gets £80 million, granted it works countrywide, but it does fund these groups.

• Bath & North East Somerset Racial Equality Council
• Black & Minority Ethnic Carers Support Service 
• Camden & Westminster Refugee Training Partnership (C&WRTP)
• Consortium of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender voluntary and Community Organisations
• Gypsy/Travel Education & Information Project North East (GTEIP)
• MOSAIC Black & Mixed Parentage Family Group
• National Council for One Parent Families|Gingerbread
• North Yorkshire Black and Minority Ethnic Strategy Board
• Pakistan Community Association and Multicultural Advice Centre

Now why hasn't the government also been funding something similar for the white working class? Answer seems to be that they looked at them as voting fodder and that they could be safely ignored for more appreciative "victim groups" such as immigrants, gays and feminists..
I suppose you could make a case for the EHRC, though for the life of me I cannot see them ever getting to the stage where they'd be redundant, it's after all not in their interests for things to be equal.

So we could look at some other Quangos.

Can you imagine what we could do with the £170 billion we'd save from removing Quangos from the body politic?
Imagine the improvements to healthcare you'd get by stopping the (estimated) £55 million spent in translation services by the NHS.
How about leaving the EU and spending the money (£106K per minute) on the UK rather than Brussels?

So, £12 million is essentially chickenfeed, it's a bribe to stop the Labour supporting base from electing another socialist party aka the BNP.
Mr Denham can stress all he likes about this not being about combating the BNP, this is all it's about and nothing else.