MPs say focus on Levelling Up ‘must not turn back the clock’ on equality

In a report released today, the House of Commons women and equalities committee has continued to argue for the creation of a new cabinet-level minister for equalities and ‘levelling up’.

The inquiry looked at the structures and mechanisms in place to support the government equalities office in fulfilling its responsibilities, and warned that hard-won progress on important equality issues could fall by the wayside as long as the additional role of women and equalities minister is given to ministers with all-encompassing, non-complementary ‘day jobs’.

The report concludes that lessons must be learned from the unequal effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Government’s response to the crisis, from which witnesses to the inquiry believed the government equalities office, and wider cabinet office equality hub, was largely missing.

The committee calls for a ‘refreshed’ approach to engaging with stakeholders on a range of sensitive and important issues, drawing on lessons learned from gender recognition act reform and communication of the findings of the commission of race and ethnic disparities.

Chair of the women and equalities committee, Caroline Nokes MP, said: “Just this week, the minister for women and equalities was unable to attend women and equalities questions in the chamber because of conflicting commitments as the new foreign secretary. It is obvious that the current setup of cabinet leaves no space or time to really address inequality in the UK.

She went on: “The government’s ‘levelling up’ agenda must not be at the expense of tackling wider inequality, and the new role should address longstanding issues such as race and sexual orientation with the same importance it affords to geographical inequality.”