Liz Truss’s equalities speech is a sign of things to come

Liz Truss has set the cat among the pigeons today with a speech entitled ‘the new fight for fairness’. The minister for women and equalities used it to announce a shift in how the government approaches the equality brief. Rather than a primary focus on gender and race, Truss said that it was important attention was also paid to people’s social class.

In the speech – hosted by the think tank Centre for Policy Studies – the International Trade Secretary said the discussion on equalities had in the past been dominated by ‘fashion’ and a ‘small number of unrepresentative voices’ rather than ‘facts’. Truss said there ought to be a shift in focus from the protected characteristics of certain groups to a focus on the individual and individual character. Linking the equalities agenda to the government’s wider level-up agenda, she said the regional divide was a key focus for her department:

‘There is a deeper wage gap between London and the regions than between men and women, with an average full-time salary a third higher in the capital than the North East of England.