English girl barred from government job…because she is wrong kind of white (pictured right)
A teenage science student has been banned from applying for atraining programme with the Environment Agency because she is whiteand English.
The recruitment agency handling the scheme told Abigail Howarth,18, that there was no point in her submitting an applicationbecause of her ethnic background.
But bizarrely she could have applied if she had been white andWelsh, Scottish or Irish. (Come again…?–Ed.)
Abigail, who wanted to join the Agency’s flood managementprogramme, saw an advert in a local newspaper offering positions inthe Anglia region where she lives, complete with a£13,000-a-year tax-free grant.
It made no mention of the ban on white English applicants,merely noting that candidates from ethnic minorities, such as”Asian, Indian’ and “White Other, e.g. Irish, Welsh, Scottish’,were encouraged to put themselves forward.
Abigail, of Little Straughton, Bedfordshire, said: “I was reallydisappointed. To be told being “White English” ruled me out in myhome county shocked me. I know why there are positive actiontraining schemes to assist those who are genuinely discriminatedagainst but when it’s broken down to this level it seems crazy tome.
“I really wanted to work for the agency and I was very excited -followed by feeling very disappointed.
“I would not have minded had I been beaten for the position bysomebody better able than me.”