BRITAIN is becoming more ethnically segregated, with widening “cracks in our communities”, because lessons have not been learned from race riots 15 years ago, an MP has warned.

Former Labour shadow minister Chuka Umunna criticised the immigration debate for focusing “almost exclusively on numbers, with too little attention paid to how we integrate people once they settle here”.

Prominent Muslims have responded, agreeing that while there is much to be praised within Bradford and many efforts to bring communities together, more can be done, particularly at grassroots level.

The Streatham MP repeated a warning he made in March that people may seek “Donald Trump style” solutions if politicians did not act first.

He spoke ahead of a meeting of the All-Party Group on Social Inclusion, which he launched in March with a cross-party plan to improve social integration. Its members include the prominent backbencher David Davis.

Umunna, who chairs the group, warned that not enough action had been taken following violent disorder in Oldham, Bradford and Burnley in 2001 and the subsequent community cohesion Cantle report into their causes.

“Fifteen years after the Cantle Report, lessons have still to be learnt and cracks in our communities have continued to grow. In fact, Britain has become a more ethnically segregated as a nation as immigration has risen over the last decades.”

Ratna Lachman, director of JUST West Yorkshire, which promotes racial justice, civil liberties and human rights in the north of England, believes that important work can be done to address this, but too often this is being eroded through cuts in funding to valuable community projects.

“Whilst the attempts to convene a review into integration is welcome, the Government has to recognise that the decimation of the voluntary and community sector in an era of austerity is coming home to roost,” she said.

“The loss of community development and youth workers and the closure of community spaces has meant that much of the integration work that used to take place between resident and new migrant communities has been lost. The fragmentation of social cohesion is also not surprising as community outreach services have been pared to the bone as local authority budgets have come under unprecedented pressure.”

Spokesman for Bradford Council for Mosques Ishtiaq Ahmed says over the past 20 years much has been invested in improving relationships between different cultural and faith groups. We hold down strong links and working partnerships across all communities.”

However, he warns against complacency.

“We will carry on, continuing our efforts, making sure that Bradford as a district and as a city remains focused and united. We have learned from the riots and have gone on to strengthen our links. Evidence of this is that when extreme organisations like the English Defence League have come to Bradford to divide us we have stood together.”

He stresses that the economic situation and opportunities within the education and health sectors are heavily influenced by national policies.

Adds Ratna Lachman: “In a climate where the only message that resident communities hear from the government is the toxic anti-Muslim and anti-migrant rhetoric which demonises and ‘problematises’ communities, it is little wonder that social cohesion is being undermined.”

“ If the Government is serious about building cohesion so that we don’t have a repeat of the 2001 race riots, it has to stop the divisive ‘us’ and ‘them’ rhetoric, commit real resources to grassroots work, invest in English language classes and tackle poverty and deprivation through creating real economic opportunities for both resident and new communities

Umunna believes that a national debate on immigration that focuses almost exclusively on numbers, pays too little attention on how we integrate people once they settle here.

“We’re now at a crossroads. If we don’t take action to bridge the divides in our communities, they will grow into gulfs and there is a real risk the British people could respond, not by seeking to solve our problems together, but by seeking to blame one another and look to ‘Donald Trump style’ solutions.”

Those due to address the group on Monday include Professor Ted Cantle, whose December 2001 report exposed a “polarisation” in Britain that led to races leading parallel lives.

The former chief executive of Nottinghamshire City Council made 67 recommendations in areas such as housing, education, youth facilities and regeneration.

The group, whose members also include Home Affairs Committee chairman Keith Vaz, former Labour minister David Lammy and Tory peer Baroness Stroud, says it will also hear from Louise Casey, who is leading a review into integration for the Government.