The test of any Labour government is whether it leaves the “country more equal than it found it. Labour has kept its head above the water – just. But social mobility is still going backwards and the GINI co-efficient, the internationally accepted measure of inequality, is slightly worse for the UK now than in 1997. This is not good enough and should be a sobering closer to thought as we move into a new era of Labour government.

We must build on the progress to date, and accept that the challenge we face is greater than that anticipated a decade ago. Progress for some must be translated to progress for all. equality? Every day, not another ten years from now, we have to subject ourselves to the same scrutiny and face the same judgement – are we making Britain more equal? We have to ensure the will, the means and the public support to make it happen. ” Assessing New Labour’s record on equality after 10 years in government

Southbank House, Black Prince Road, London SE1 7SJ T: +44 (0) 207 463 0632 [email protected] www.compassonline.org.uk Closer to equality?

Assessing New Labour’s record on equality after 10 years in government Contents

Introduction 3 Jon Cruddas MP Health 6 Professor Danny Dorling Housing 11 Toby Lloyd Children 17 Child Poverty Action Group Workers 21 Simon Nunn TGWU Race 24 Nick Johnson Women 27 Katherine Rake, Fawcett Society Gay equality 30 Gavin Hayes Education 33 Steve Sinnott NUT Wealth 37 Stewart Lansley Democracy 40 Paul Skidmore Notes 44 Introduction Jon Cruddas MP

“I say to the doubters, judge us after across economic and social issues to ten years in office. For one of the begin to answer Peter Mandelson’s call. fruits of that success will be that Contributors were asked to assess the Britain has become a more equal good, the bad, the indifferent and to society. However, we will have make key policy proposals for the achieved that result by many different future in their respective fields. routes, not just the redistribution of The publication touches on many cash from rich to poor, which others areas – and includes contributions on choose as their own limited version wealth; workers; health; housing; of egalitarianism…” children; education; gender; race; gay (Peter Mandelson Labour’s Next Steps: Tackling rights and democracy. Of course there Social Exclusion, Fabian Society 1997) are many more important issues to judge New Labour’s record on- It has been the historic role of the equality for disabled people; for people Labour Party to fight inequality in all with mental health problems; in the its forms and in 1997, with a clear criminal justice system; in the context democratic mandate, New Labour set of globalisation, to name a few, but out to make Britain a more equal place. Compass has made a start. As the leadership of the Labour Party As this report shows, real progress changes and the Labour Party is in the has been made in some areas – in position of being able to renew itself in education, in gay rights, in racial government, now more than ever it is equality for example. Britain is a better vital that we make a genuine and place because it elected Labour in 1997. honest assessment of Labour’s record But there are also many examples of on equality. inequality left untackled and I welcome Compass’ pamphlet as a entrenched. Health inequalities, timely intervention. They have housing inequalities and unequal pay commissioned ‘verdicts’ from leading for men and women continue to affect experts, academics and campaigners people’s day to day lives. Even in those 4 Closer to equality?

areas where we are moving in the right To date, few of the best advances direction there are too many excep- made by the government in redistrib- tions where significant progress has uting wealth have been done with the failed to be made. fanfare they deserve. Some may think We will all have a view on whether that has a short-term tactical the equality glass is half empty or half advantage, but it chokes off the full. Turning around the inequalities sustainable advances we need to build caused by the Thatcher years was the progressive consensus the left wants. If we continue to be afraid of the reaction of sections of the press to an overtly pro-equality agenda then “If we continue to be progress will always be limited. And if afraid of the reaction of we fail to tell the people who are bene- fiting from redistribution that it’s a sections of the press to Labour government that is helping an overtly pro-equality them – then why should they reward us at the ballot box? agenda then progress Equality is the central issue for the will always be limited left of centre. Attitudes to equality ” differentiate left from right. The left is defined by its commitment to make society more equal. The right are against greater equality. Of course it is always going to take time but we need a relative concept. Today’s poor are to assess whether we are laying down better off than the poor of the past but the right conditions to continue to the employment, housing and health make real and significant progress. inequalities they face remain stark and The advances made to date have their exclusion is just as painful. For been when the economy is strongest example, Michael Marmot and Richard and the Labour’s majorities the largest. Wilkinson have conclusively proved What happens when the economy is that relative difference in wealth make not so strong and the majorities are the poor more likely to suffer from slimmer? Will we and, have we now, mental illness and die much earlier. the public support we need to make the Equality cannot be not about compas- country more equal? sion or feeling sorry for people. It must Introduction 5

be about ensuring equal worth, equal Some ultra-Blairites have tried to reward and ending discrimination. argue that only work ends poverty. But Greater equality is of course prob- a social state must be able to defend the lematic because the huge rewards lives and opportunities of those who enjoyed by those at very the top of the cannot work or who are in the low- income bracket. They are distorting wage jobs. society and recreating Victorian levels The test of any Labour government is of class distinctions as conspicuous whether it leaves the country more equal consumption, obscene financial than it found it. Labour has kept its head rewards and a new servant class are above the water – just. But social returning after an absence of over a mobility is still going backwards and the century. GINI co-efficient, the internationally Peter Mandelson once said he was accepted measure of inequality, is slightly relaxed about people becoming filthy worse for the UK now than in 1997. This rich. While we have moved beyond the is not good enough and should be a class war rhetoric of the past, we do sobering thought as we move into a new have to recreate the social pressure of era of Labour government. responsibility that once constrained We must build on the progress to top executives. This requires our date, and accept that the challenge we political leaders to speak out. But it’s face is greater than that anticipated a also down to pension funds that decade ago. Progress for some must be operate in our name. If social translated to progress for all. pressure doesn’t work then tougher Every day, not another ten years action should be considered. If from now, we have to subject ourselves Anthony Giddens the Blairite guru of to the same scrutiny and face the same the ‘third way’ can advocate more judgement – are we making Britain progressive taxation policies, then the more equal? We have to ensure the issue should enter the mainstream of will, the means and the public support debate. to make it happen. Health Professor Danny Dorling

When New Labour came to office of all targets, in general their progress has the inequalities they had to tackle they been in one direction only – toward the knew what mattered most. The new greatest inequality. Health inequalities health secretary, Frank Dobson, spelt it have increased year on year under New out to the House of Commons. He Labour. Health inequalities reflect said: inequalities in society in general but are the the most obvious and “There are huge inequalities in our important outcome of the govern- society. Poor people are ill more ment’s failure to tackle inequality often and die sooner.And that’s the locally2. greatest inequality of them all – the inequality between the living and the Target 1: Infant dead.”1 mortality rates Figure 1, below, shows for babies born The Government identified two “body to working class parents the percentage counts” as targets to measure the by which their infant mortality rates success of their policies in reducing have been above average levels in health inequalities. The first was of the England and Wales for each year number of working class infants dying between 1996 and 2005 inclusive. If in their first year of life as compared to there were no differences between the the number that would be expected to chances of working class and middle die were the infants born to middle class babies dying during the first year class parents. The second concerned of life (most in their first few weeks) the differences in life expectancy found the bars would have zero height. That is between different areas across the the direction, towards equality, that the country. statistics were taking from 1996 to The definitions of both targets were 1998. However, from 1998 on, apart altered over time. But, almost no from two “blips”, the gap has relent- matter how you measure the two lessly grown. Health 7

Figure 1: Infant mortality rates in numbers of dead bodies of poor England and Wales 1996-20053 infants under New Labour.

Excess over average "routine and manual" infant mortality (%) Target 2: Life expectancy 20 comparisons by area 19 18 Figure 2, below, shows the difference of 17 16 life expectancy between the best and 15 worst-off districts in the UK in years 14 13 between 1999 and 2005. The govern- 12 11 ment uses complex measures to 10 calculate inequalities in life expectancy by area, and their preferred measures

1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 that have changed in definition. But the government’s own figures highlight the The growth of the gap in the survival same trends of rising inequalities as are chances of infants born to working seen in infant mortality rates. Figure 2 class parents and infants born to illustrates the trend more simply by middle class parents reflects well the comparing life expectancies of the growth of the gap between the material living standards of their parents and prospective parents. It is important to Figure 2: A measure of social inte- note that the government’s decision to gration between geographical areas: differentiate non-working individuals Life expectancy estimates diverging 4 without children from those with in the United Kingdom 1999-2005 children in the welfare and benefit Difference between best and worst-off system has led to many infants being districts by life expectancy (years) born to parents without the means to 11 care for themselves during pregnancy, or properly for their child after birth. 10 Tax credits, child and other benefits associated with having children kick in 9 too slowly for most of these children who die so soon after birth. There is a 8 correlation between that financial

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005 punishment and the rising relative 8 Closer to equality?

populations of the most extreme was already highest, it rose by exactly districts year on year. Again the largest one year for both men and women increases have been in the most recent (from 79.8 to 80.8 years and 84.8 to years. Figure 2 is hardly good evidence 85.8 years, respectively). In contrast, that the continuing widening of the in Glasgow where it was lowest a gap is a legacy of a past era of year ago, life expectancy remained Conservative policies5. static at 76.4 years for women, and In 2006, a Department of Health rose just slightly for men from 69.1 to report stated: 69.3 years.The range in life expectancy between the extreme “Nationally, life expectancy is highest and lowest areas thus increasing for both men and women, increased from 8.4 to 9.4 years for including in the Spearhead areas. But women, and from 10.7 years to 11.5 it is increasing more slowly there, so years for men. the gap continues to widen, and it is For men and women combined, the widening more for women than men. life expectancy gap between the worst For males the relative gap is 2% wider and best off districts of the UK now than at the baseline (compared to 1% exceeds 10 years for the first time wider in 2002-2004), for females 8% since reliable measurements began. wider (the same as in 2002-2004). The 2003-2005 relative gaps show A year’s data later and the range in life little change over the 2002-2004 expectancy has increased again to 9.5 figures, and data are subject to year- years for women and 12.3 years for on-year fluctuation.”6 men – and the combined gap is now almost 11 years (10.9) – just twelve When these figures were first released, months after it passed the 10 year my colleagues and I wrote this: point7. The overall life expectancy of a population is a health indicator that On 10 November National Statistics responds more slowly to policy inter- released new life expectancy figures ventions than does infant mortality. by area and announced that Part of this widening gap will include “Inequalities in life expectancy persist the legacy of the different rates at across the UK.” which smoking for instance declined “Persist” was an odd word to use. by social class in the past. However, the In Kensington and Chelsea, where it exacerbated sorting of people by class Health 9

and ability to pay for housing between immortal should not be a comfort to areas under New Labour has greatly those in New Labour who hope to magnified any such legacy effects. eventually welcome the turning of the Just as the rising inequalities in the trend in these graphs as proof that their chances of working class babies dying as policies have finally worked. What has compared to the middle class reflect the been allowed to occur over the last ten rising material inequalities between years has been an abject failure, a dere- poor parents (and most importantly liction of hope, when compared to the prospective parents) and the rest, so stated aims of New Labour when it rising inequalities in life expectancy came to power in 1997. between areas are a mirror of the rising economic inequalities that have emerged so clearly between different parts of Britain under New Labour. Regional “Many of those geographical inequalities have risen Labour MPs whose faster under New Labour than they did under Margaret Thatcher. This may not constituents have have been the plan, but the effect in suffered most due to terms of the relative inequality body count has been devastating. the failure to narrow

Conclusion inequalities have had Current rates of growth in area health the power to change inequalities are unsustainable. They are unsustainable because immortality is policy not possible and so life expectancy ” cannot carry on rising so quickly where it is highest to begin with. Similarly there are limits beneath which infant If New Labour has achieved mortality cannot fall (probably of anything positive in terms of health around 1 infant dying per 1000 born). inequalities, they can claim to have Because of this we should expect presided over an era when health inequalities in infant health to improve inequalities in Britain have not been in the future. The fact that human transformed into the terrible absolute beings and infant babies are not gaps that can be seen to have emerged 10 Closer to equality?

in recent years in the United States of she first contended her Salford seat. America – but that is hardly an There are 750 fewer folk to vote for achievement. John Reid now where he has been MP At some point soon the calculation since 1997; 640 fewer for Jack Straw; will be made of the actual absolute 590 less for Harriet Harman; and 360 number of babies that would have lived less in the Dunfermline East to see their first birthday, of men who constituency of Gordon Brown. These would have made it to at least a year of deaths are all due to the continued retirement, and of women who would extent of inequalities in life chances in not have seen their children die before the United Kingdom. These figures all them – had New Labour achieved its represent people who have died before ambitions to reduce inequalities in they reached age 65 because rates in health in the period May 1997 to May their area remain so much in excess of 2007. All these infants and children and the national average. When these adults are now dead. In by far the figures were first calculated they were greatest proportion will be those that the hypothetical body counts that voted Labour in 1997, or whose parents would result from policy failure. Now and grandparents had voted Labour in they are gravestones in cemeteries and both that year and were the basis of plaques in crematoria and, of course, that party’s success in the past. Perhaps thousands upon thousands of fairly each Labour MP and Minster needs fresh memories of lives that need not this list8 to help them understand who have ended so soon. For a few MPs, amongst those they represented from enough of their constituents have died 1997 is no longer here as a result of this both prematurely and unnecessarily policy failure? Many of those Labour since 1997 to have been able to fill the MPs whose constituents have suffered House of Commons from their most due to the failure to narrow constituency’s toll alone. It may well inequalities have had the power to have been worse had another party change policy. Notability in (or still in) won power in 1997, but for so many it the government are Hazel Blears who could have been so much better. If we loses over 100 potential voters a year do not learn that what has been due to the continuation of such achieved since 1997 was not enough for inequalities: one thousand excess so many people then there is little point young deaths in her constituency since in counting the dead. Housing Toby Lloyd, Senior Housing Policy Manager, GLA

Access to shelter and home life is challenge for the left. If we are to fundamental to our well-being and to achieve a socially and economically just social justice. The Labour society and reduce the gap between the Government believes that ‘everyone rich and the rest we have to tackle the should have the opportunity of a problem of housing wealth, but this decent home at a price they can means challenging the most cherished afford, in a place where they want to assumptions and aspirations of middle live and work’.9 But after ten years of England. The solution could be reform Labour, housing inequality has risen of the tax system, with a new property and decent, affordable housing is or land value tax, but this carries signif- increasingly inaccessible for a growing icant political risk. percentage of the population. All inequality matters – but housing Wealth inequality inequality goes even deeper, because Asset wealth is crucially different from where we live and how we are housed is income, and is vital to any assessment intimately tied up with our individual of equality. You need to be wealthy and social identities, making the already to acquire assets, and once you housing gap even more socially divisive have them, they will tend to make you than other forms of wealth inequality. wealthier, increasing the gap between Housing wealth is also a primary you and the non-owning poor. source of social polarisation and differ- Without intervention, wealth ential access to public services, as the inequality therefore tends to increase. wealthy buy themselves into areas with Yet in Britain public intervention is good schools and low crime rates, targetted almost exclusively at income, leaving the poor ghettoised in areas of not wealth. Unsurprisingly, the gini cheaper housing and poor services. coefficient for wealth inequality is, at Britain’s dangerous obsession with 0.7, double that of income inequality at housing wealth represents a serious 0.35.10 12 Closer to equality?

Housing assets are the greatest worth around £13bn per year. Stamp source of wealth in Britain, and now Duty is levied on hard pressed buyers, account for over half of GDP. What is not the seller cashing in on their gains, true for wealth in general is especially and raised a mere £5.4 bn over the year true for housing: the value of homes in – an effective tax rate of barely over 1%. the UK has risen 50 fold in the last 30 These tax advantageous encourage years, but the distribution of this investment, which pushes prices up and wealth is highly unequal, with the creates expectations of future rises, wealthiest tenth of households fuelling further investment. The effect is possessing five times the housing circular: the mounting cultural wealth of the poorest tenth.11 obsession with homeownership (from This pattern has continued since TV property shows to estate agents) New Labour came into power: helps feed the house price spiral, which according to the Financial Times, since makes property increasingly inacces- 1997 the average house price has risen sible to more people, and in turn stimu- by 197%, from £73,811 in May 1997 to lates the aspirational desire to own and £219,145 in April 2007. As a result, the sense of exclusion among those who homeowners have on average seen a cannot. 78% rise in their asset wealth in the last Despite the obvious problems rising five years. house prices cause, in a culture Houses have become a speculative obsessed with unearned housing financial investment as well as a place to wealth accumulation it has become shelter and build a home. The housing unacceptable to suggest that house market is an attractive place to invest – prices should fall. Like all bubbles, this the value of the UK’s private housing one relies on public adherence to the stock rising by £400bn in 2006.12 Best of doctrine of indefinite growth. Dissent all, this wealth is almost entirely could spark panic and a bust, and so unearned, and almost completely cannot be tolerated. Rather than tackle untaxed. Wealth gained from house the root cause of many being excluded price rises is a windfall benefit for the from the housing market – house rich, largely derived from a healthy prices rising faster than earnings – New macroeconomic climate and public Labour has chosen to support the investment into services and infrastruc- bubble market and sought to counter ture. Homeowners have a special some of the worst effects for selected exemption from Capital Gains Tax, groups of people. Housing 13

One example is key worker schemes, tions of wealth and poverty. This was which while providing some with great the economic lesson that the game opportunities continue to exclude Monopoly was originally designed to many others – for example, nurses may demonstrate: in a normal rent-paying be eligible but other hospital staff may property market if you play for long not be. Another example is the enough all the money will end up with Government’s policy of allowing the one player. This is also why traditional housing benefit bill to rocket. Housing social hierarchies have always been benefit now amounts to one of the based on land ownership: medieval biggest benefit bills, equalling child feudalism simply entrenched the benefits and unemployment benefits inevitable pattern of a few owners and combined. It representes a subsidy for many disenfranchised renters that land landlords, and so props up the bloated trading and conquest produces. property market, but does not help people of less means access homeown- ership, perpetuating the inequality. The true Impacts “ The Labour government’s acceptance distributional effects of of the inequitable distribution of the property market are housing wealth, its support for high house prices through these favourable concealed, enabling tax arrangements and attempts to keep society to delude itself interest rates low has had a direct impact on equality – ‘the many’ are that the boom is actually priced out of the market and housing the democratisation of wealth remains the preserve of the rela- tively well off, or the lucky. wealth The concentration of landed wealth ” in few hands is in fact highly predictable. Given a fixed supply of a necessity good such as homes and New Labour’s willful blindness to uneven distribution of wealth, the the distributional effects of the housing workings of the free market will boom stems from the fact that wealth inevitably lead to greater concentra- effects are played out over generations, 14 Closer to equality?

not years. Firstly this means that those In London and other high value areas who live through a boom tend to forget most ‘first time buyers’ are actually either the experience of their grandparents. wealthy international returnees or those Secondly it enables governments to whose parents help them to buy exem- ignore the long term impacts and focus plifying the huge generational inequali- on four-year electoral cycles. Policy ties in housing. In other words, the only initiatives like supporting individuals way to access property ownership is into homeownership look good in the through inheritance – a new form of short term, but worsen the structural urban feudalism is being created. In problems in the long term. There is many cases, the consequences of ample evidence that helping people inequalities in housing are extreme – the acquire housing assets is the worst way ‘have-not’s’ are, quite literally, homeless- to counter wealth inequality.13 ness. Recent figures show more than But most importantly it means that 116,000 homeless children living in the true distributional effects of the temporary accommodation and more property market are concealed, enabling than 900,000 children growing up in society to delude itself that the boom is overcrowded conditions.15 actually the democratisation of wealth. As the number of households in the The fact that the majority are now UK has grown and more people are homeowners hides the fact that the excluded from the private market losers in the game are not just the poor, because of high prices, the demand for but future generations. Once the market social homes has increased – yet supply is so polarised that no-one can hope to has fallen. Despite the huge waiting move from non-ownership to lists, every year since 1981 has seen a ownership, entire generations will grow net loss of social homes, as right to buy up excluded from the market. sales have far outstripped new homes Inheritance will enable a lucky few of the built. Lack of social housing clearly younger generation to access homes, causes great inequalities in housing increasing polarisation further. situations for people most in need of help as local authorities and housing Social inequality associations are forced to prioritise Few people can really afford homes in allocation of their stock. In London much of Britain today – rising prices are alone, 60,000 households are in only supported by soaring debt levels temporary accommodation waiting for consumer debt is now 179% of GDP14. social housing. Housing 15

Public investment in social housing Odds maintains “Looking at all the is beginning to pick up slowly but even evidence together, it is clear that this is uneven throughout the country, housing issues are in some cases the exacerbating regional inequalities. For cause of the difficulties experienced by example, housing growth is planned children and families revealed in this for the relatively overcrowded South investigation, and in other cases East but the Housing Market Renewal housing is a factor that exacerbates Pathfinder programme is removing existing problems, making difficult substantial housing from the north. lives even more challenging.”16 Clearly there are problems of regional Shelter’s recent report outlines an economic imbalance – there are more “unequivocal” link between living in jobs in the South and so more people bad housing, including overcrowded want to live there in turn causing more housing or accommodation that is in overcrowding – but the solution poor condition, and health problems in cannot be simply to ignore other children. The report maintains that regions and perpetuate the imbalance. children living in bad housing are Thirty years ago the policy response almost twice as likely to suffer from would have been to focus on industrial poor health as other children. The development in the north: today the report also outlines the detrimental assumption is the jobs market cannot effect poor housing has on children’s be influenced so we have to deal with education. The report states that the housing consequences. Reviving children who live in poor housing interventionist approach to regional conditions are twice as likely to be economic development could help. excluded from school and nearly twice Great inequalities also persist in the as like to leave school without any quality of accommodation people live GSCE’s as other children. Shelter also in. Access to decent accommodation points out that only one-fifth of remains massively unequal despite 10 children living in bad housing intend years of New Labour. Shelter recently to study full time beyond the age of 16. reported that 1.6 million children, one in seven children, in Britain are living Conclusion in bad housing and that living in poor Inequality in housing wealth is the housing conditions has monumentally main driver of the widening rich-poor detrimental effects on the life chances gap, and the effects of the housing of children. The report, Against the market have negated the moderate 16 Closer to equality?

redistribution of income since Labour failing to tax wealth gains on them in came to power.17 Whilst some of the line with gains from any other invest- foundations for the shocking housing ment, the government has allowed the situation that we are faced with in 2007 persistent exclusion of many on low were laid well before 1997, the Labour incomes from the housing market. This Government has failed to address has not been convincingly offset by many of the underlying factors and policies designed to temper the effects exacerbated others through its own of high house prices. Furthermore, policy decisions. By continuing to failure to ensure enough provision of allow house prices to rise and social housing has created great supporting the trend of house buying inequality among those less well off acting as a financial speculation by who look to the state for support. Children Child Poverty Action Group

The simple answer to the question is yes chances. The public debate is still mired but with a very long way to go. In March in the deserving and undeserving poor 1999 Tony Blair promised to eradicate and the selling job on why the pledge to child poverty – an astounding and eradicate child poverty is so vital has not remarkable commitment. To meet the yet matched its real importance to our promise, Labour has developed new children. This is why over 60 organiza- mechanisms for reducing poverty and tions have come together to form the has reaped the results, lifting 600,000 Campaign to End Child Poverty. children out of poverty and showing First some facts on change over the indisputably that policy can work. 10 years: Labour has also accepted the relative In 1996/97 the richest tenth of indi- nature of poverty in the UK – that viduals had 27.8 per cent of all income, poverty needs to be seen as much about the poorest 2.0 per cent. By 2005/06 the the ability to participate in normal activ- richest tenth had increased their share ities as about the Dickensian stereotype of a bigger pot to 29.5 per cent, the of malnourished children dressed in rags poorest tenth had seen their relative – and it has re-orientated the political share fall to 1.6 per cent.19 debate from poverty-denialism to one In 1996 the top 1 per cent owned 20 where all major parties have been forced per cent of the wealth of the entire to address poverty as a serious issue. country, by 2003 this had risen to 21 At the same time the distance yet to per cent of a cake which had nearly travel is immense. In February UNICEF doubled in size. Over the same period placed the UK bottom of its league of National Statistics record the poorest child well-being18 and in March child half of the population as owning just 7 poverty rose for the first time in 8 years – per cent of all of the wealth.20 it is very clear that current policies are In 1996/97 4.3 million children were struggling to make sufficient progress income poor (34%),21 this rose to 4.4 and we have not yet got at the root causes million in 1998/99 and now stands at of why children have such unequal 3.8 million children (30%) – 600,000 18 Closer to equality?

children have been lifted out of poverty winning the public debate. Public between 1998/99 and 2005/06. attitudes have, if anything, hardened 67 per cent of the children of lone even as initiatives like sure start and tax parents were poor in 1996/97 but by credits have been rolled out. These 2005/06 this was 50 per cent, attitudes are shaped by deeply grotesquely high but a real improve- entrenched public and media stereo- ment. For children in large families the types but they can be challenged and risk in 1996/97 was 65 per cent, it is changed.22 There is a role for now around 47 per cent. campaigners, politicians and the media The continuing different risks faced in challenging those who blame by different groups of children are families themselves for their poverty. stark and show how far policies to Unfortunately these stereotypes are improve equality must yet go: often fuelled by political comment implying unwillingness to work or overstating benefit fraud. Such Risk of child poverty in 2005/06: comment frightens vulnerable families and it undermines efforts to build Children of lone parents 50% public support. Government should be Children without a working parent 77% prouder and louder about the pledge Pakistani and Bangladeshi children 67% to eradicate child poverty and what Children in large families 47% has been achieved. Children with a disabled parent 42% The Institute for Fiscal Studies has Children living in inner London 52% estimated meeting the halving target All children 30% requires £3.8 billion additional resources spent through the tax credit system.23 £3.8 billion may sound a lot The measure used here is ‘income but it is only around 0.3 per cent of poverty’ – only one measure but a GDP, a pathetically small sum when respected indicator of the relative balanced against the damage poverty position and so of the chances a child does to children and to society. The may experience. IFS, however warn that the £3.8 billion only gives a 50:50 chance of meeting So where next for policy? the target; £3.8 billion should be the First, the success in raising political starting point, but is not good enough awareness needs to be matched by on its own. Alongside increased invest- Children 19

ment we also need to ensure that cant problems of in-work poverty with financial support is effectively getting over half of poor children living in a through by improving take up and household with a parent in work. If delivering advice and support to the welfare to work is to deliver more in poorest families such as those affected improving equality we need to do by disability, black and minority ethnic much more than just getting more families and large families – success people into jobs, we need a ‘work first means narrowing the gaps for those at plus approach’26 emphasizing pay, greatest risk of poverty. employment quality and skills develop- As part of the ‘Make Child Benefit ment. To achieve this government Count’ campaign24 CPAG believes needs to engage with employers to government should raise the lower overcome discrimination and the rate of child benefit currently paid to barriers to work and progression many families for second and subsequent still face; it needs to properly resource children (£12.10 per week) to that paid welfare to work to support people into for the first (£18.10). Such a move has work; and it needs to back off been estimated to lift between 250,000 proposals to increase the levels of and 300,000 children out of poverty.25 benefit conditionality which are Child benefit is a near universal unnecessary and counterproductive. benefit, simple, effective and popular. It So more jobs yes, but decent jobs with is expensive but equally all families support to attain and progress in gain through it and as it is effective it work. does not suffer the problems of non- Though overall attainment seems to take up, overpayment and error which be rising, the education attainment gap bedevil other systems. Child benefit is stubbornly wide and seems to grow offers an ideal vehicle around which to as children grow up. There is a recogni- build greater efforts to tackle and to tion of this problem but solutions to it prevent poverty. have to date been inadequate to the Much of the success in tackling child task, yet narrowing this gap is key to poverty has come from greater sustaining a world without child employment, facilitated by a growing poverty – otherwise many of today’s economy, welfare to work policies and poor children will simply become tax credits. The UK has one of the tomorrow’s poor parents. A focus on highest employment rates of the indus- aspiration is important but it is not trialized world but it also has signifi- enough: children’s aspirations are 20 Closer to equality?

shaped by the opportunities around with those experienced by another, them and the world they expect to and one parent cannot buy opportuni- inhabit as they grow up. Aspiration has ties for their child (a better school, to be made meaningful by ensuring all private tuition or cultural advantages) children can realize opportunities. A without similarly worsening the pledge has been made to raise the per opportunities for other children – the pupil spend in the state sector to that playing field needs much more of the private. We need a date for the leveling. The second problem with implementation of this welcome inequality is that it breeds social proposal, the date needs to be soon distance. If some in society can live and the additional resources need to their lives without seeing the disadvan- be ‘bent’ towards schools with the tage faced by others, why should they most challenging needs. believe it exists or pay for it to be Aside from public lack of interest, reduced? Polly Toynbee has forcefully the greatest threat to the progressive used the analogy of the caravan length- agenda on child poverty has been the ening across a desert to illustrate the failure to understand and to act on the concerns around growing inequality27. extent to which inequality is linked to If the riders at the front can’t see the differences in life chances. We saw the riders at the back, how would they playing out of this weakness in the know they have broken away? recent rise in child poverty figures: True, as Mandelson implied in 1997, without addressing underlying egalitarianism involves more than inequality, policy has to run to stand simply a redistribution of resources but still – if it doesn’t run, progress will make no mistake, policies which seek reverse. Looking afresh at inequality of to redistribute opportunities for both income and of wealth will be children without at the same time crucial if more progress is to be made. confronting the way in which these Inequalities in health and education opportunities are mediated through are widely recognized yet those which access to financial resources are underpin them, those of income, unlikely to succeed. wealth and consequent power, have been largely ignored. Yet one child’s CPAG is a member of the Campaign opportunities are closely bound up to End Child Poverty Workers Simon Nunn, Transport and General Workers Union

“Look at the shares of national Meanwhile the vast majority of T&G income in the major economies of members are struggling to keep up the developed world.The share going with their household bills as the real to labour is at historic lows; the share cost of living continues to rise. going to capital is at historic highs. The pendulum is moving left towards politicians more in favour of pro- It seems that this labour economic policies.There is “ potential for a shift in the relationship Labour Government between labour and capital”. has been running to No doubt Peter Mandelson might stand still in terms of think that the person speaking these words at Davos this year has an old addressing inequality fashioned ‘limited’ version of egalitari- ” anism – after all, hasn’t the New Labour project banished such old fashioned terminology as ‘labour’ and The T&G is fully aware that in ‘capital’ from the political lexicon all absolute terms inequality would be far together? The interesting thing about worse had the Tories been in power for this quote is that it doesn’t come from the last 10 years. The share of GDP a trade union leader, but from Stephen going to workers in the form of wages Roach, chief economist at Morgan and salaries reduced from its peak of Stanley. 65.1% in 1975 to 52.6 % in 1996. Mr Roach should know about shares Under Labour this has recovered of income and historic highs, his CEO slightly to 55.9%. Measures such as tax at Morgan Stanley received a bonus of credits and the introduction of the over £20 million last Christmas. national minimum wage have helped 22 Closer to equality?

some of the lowest paid workers. It Minimum Wage will be below the remains the case, however, that the top projected rise in average earnings and 1% of the population own 21% of the RPI inflation rate, whilst at the same nations wealth with the bottom 50% time City workers have enjoyed an 18% only owning 7%. increase in bonuses, with over 4000 of It seems that this Labour them taking home bonuses of over £1 Government has been running to stand million each. It is time for Labour to still in terms of addressing inequality. face up to the fact that there is a Between 1997 and 2002 income problem here that needs to be inequality reached its highest ever level addressed. in the UK, as measured by the Gini So what needs to be done? Labour coefficient, and since then it has fallen could take some more obvious redis- back to 1997 levels. In 2006 the tributive measures in relation to Institute of Fiscal Studies concluded taxation. With the stark contrast that ‘the net effect of eight years of between excessive pay increases for the Labour Government has been to leave super wealthy and the growing squeeze inequality effectively unchanged28.’ on household income for most The reality is that ordinary working working families it shouldn’t be too people have not gained their fair share difficult to win the political argument of the rise in economic prosperity and for an increase in the top rate of productivity, or of the record profits income tax and for the closure of being made by UK plc. Whilst the loopholes such as the non domicile tax Treasury makes exhortations that wage rules that turn London into a tax haven settlements should take into account for the global super rich. the 2% inflation target and public For the T&G, however, there are sector workers are expected to accept fundamental labour market issues to wage settlements well below the true address if Britain is not to descend to rate of inflation, it is bonanza time for US levels of inequality. In Tony Blair’s Britain’s top earners. In 2006 the bosses own words in 1997, Labour has largely of Britain’s 10 biggest companies left ‘British law the most restrictive on received pay increases three times that trade unions in the western world.’ The of the average rise in wages, and four decline of collective bargaining and the times the rate of inflation.29 individualisation of employment In March it was announced this rights have coincided with laws which year’s increase in the National make it almost impossible for working Workers 23

people to take effective collective action undermine collective bargaining to defend their living standards arrangements. The T&G does not without falling foul of the law. Last believe that the exploitation of a largely year, the OECD published analysis that migrant, casualised workforce is an showed that ‘a stronger bargaining acceptable method to control inflation. power of trade unions is associated The horrific stories of the more extreme with lower relative poverty and income abuses of migrant agency workers are inequality.30’ It is no coincidence that increasingly in the public domain but those European countries with the the use of agency workers to bypass lowest levels of inequality are those employer responsibilities is also wide- with the largest collective bargaining spread in public and communications coverage. As a first step we believe that sectors. The introduction of equal Labour should restore the duty to treatment rights for agency workers in promote collective bargaining to ACAS basic terms and conditions would nip in and to introduce an employment law the bud the potential for the expansion framework that helps unions to grow. of a two tier labour market and further On 2nd March 2007 Paul Farrelly widening of the equality gap. MP’s Private Members Bill on equal The Institute of Fiscal Studies did not treatment for agency workers was strike an optimistic note in their report talked out by the Government, despite – they concluded that ‘unless the the attendance of over 100 Labour Chancellor can dip into his pocket and MP’s in the House to support it. This find even more to finance his redistrib- was not the behaviour of a government utive goals, or unless gross income serious about addressing equality. inequality should fall sharply, even the The T&G’s experience on the ground small fall in income inequality since is that employers in low paying sectors 2000/01 looks unlikely to be repeated’. such as food processing and hospitality The T&G would like to see bold action are increasingly using low paid agency on equality from a Brown Government. workers, often migrant workers, to drive The end to exploitation of agency down wages and conditions and workers would be a good way to start. Race Nick Johnson

Is there greater racial equality than 10 ethnic minority communities live in years ago? The simple answer is “yes, the 88 most deprived wards. but…” Major progress has been made However, this is not a simple picture. over the last decade. Britain is There is a clear and growing diversifi- undoubtedly a more tolerant nation, cation between ethnic minorities, with more at ease with its diversity, resulting some doing better than average while in a reduction in the occurrence of others remain behind. Here, more visible discrimination and the focused and effective actions need to be Government must take credit for this considered to tackle the systemic national mood. While change may not patterns of exclusion and to prevent have been as rapid or as deep-rooted as the sustained presence of a structural we could have expected from a ethnic underclass. For instance, the progressive regime, many of the Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant persistent inequalities are the lasting has had a major impact upon the legacy of the Tory years. educational performance of some However, many indicators show that communities but its impact has not there is ongoing differential treatment been as wide or as deep as hoped. of ethnic groups in key areas, such as As with so much of the Government’s criminal justice, education and health. social policy, a primary approach to Disproportionality is clearly evident in generating more race equality has been the negative experiences of ethnic programmatic. The response to the minorities in most work and life areas Stephen Lawrence enquiry was bold and in comparison to the rest of the popu- rested upon a thoroughly laudable lation. The recent Joseph Rowntree principle – that we need to make sure report that showed the endemic links that all our public authorities work between poverty and ethnicity demon- proactively towards greater equality. The strates the lack of social progress under Race Relations Amendment Act has Labour. Perhaps most starkly, in 2003, been a major legislative change but the the Government admitted that 67% of Government’s approach has relied overly Race 25

on process, with an over-emphasis on have altered society. A key driver has paper trails and ticking boxes rather been the nature of inward migration to than producing measurable changes in Britain over the last decade which has outcomes and experiences. considerably increased the ethnic The development of the race diversity of Britain. At a local level, new equality duty has shifted the onus from communities have been drawn to parts individuals having to challenge public of the UK, which have not previously institutions after they have been experienced significant migration and discriminated against, to public bodies settlement. ensuring that their policies have This needs to be seen alongside two proactive measures to prevent other major events that changed the inequality in the first place. The law has discussion over race in the UK. First been a significant lever for change but were the riots in our northern towns in we are still at the stage where it is the the summer of 2001 which prompted foundations and requires further work the Cantle report and the assertion that to move into positive changes in many communities were leading people’s life chances. ‘parallel lives’. Following soon after were the terrorist attacks of September 11th and the ongoing threat of interna- tional terrorism. The vast majority of “ It is a sad indictment of the the evidence shows Government’s record that the latter has had a far more significant impact on that segregation is policy than the former. Too often now, increasing we see some Ministers viewing ” community relations through the lens of terrorism. This is bad news both for any meaningful counter-terrorism In assessing Labour’s record, it is strategy and also for race relations. important to distinguish between race The vast majority of the evidence equality and the state of race relations. shows that segregation is increasing Here, the landscape has moved signifi- with fundamental consequences for cantly in the last decade. equality. When communities can Recent increases in the size of the UK choose to live entirely separate lives, population and changing demographics disadvantaged groups often become 26 Closer to equality?

invisible to decision-makers, and the inequalities, caused in part by a lack of incentive to bring about change fades. interaction with other communities There is a clear link between those and wider society, may encourage areas that are more deprived and have people to remain in their own commu- worse public services, and those with a nities and as a consequence result in high ethnic minority population. disaffection from civil society. We need This situation could be exacerbated to look at ways of encouraging civic by the drive for more ‘choice’ in how engagement and a richer notion of people access our public services. If British citizenship with its attendant unfettered freedom to choose is encour- rights and responsibilities, promoting aged, evidence shows that people may greater interaction within and between tend to choose to become more segre- communities. gated. For people who do not have basic The best and fairest societies are equality in housing, work, health and those in which people share experi- education, there is little choice. Choice ences and common ambitions could well allow the more mobile whatever their racial, religious or people to choose the better services cultural backgrounds. In essence, we while leaving behind sink services for need to reassert the need for a society those who are worse off. based on solidarity in which everyone’s Therefore, we need to move towards life chances are unaffected by what or a richer appreciation of the challenges where they were born. that need to be addressed as Labour True equality entails solid evidence develops an agenda for the next decade. of equality of outcome. To be equal, That can be done around a developed everyone needs to be part of main- notion of integration. To make this stream society, participate in all forums meaningful, we need to deliver equality and engage individually with all groups for all sections of the community, throughout their life course. Policy interaction between all sections of the needs to reflect this complexity and community and participation by all address equality, interaction and sections of the community. participation in order to achieve an There is a cyclical effect, where integrated Britain. Women Dr Katherine Rake Director, Fawcett Society

When Labour women MPs crowded Iraq and cash for honours – has been around the youthful, smiling Tony highest among the women voters who Blair on May 2nd 1997, it felt like a seemed to be promised a better deal silent promise to the half of the elec- that day. Women are now more torate that had previously been so sceptical than men about how much overlooked. Politics was no longer a the Government has delivered on the male preserve. These feisty women domestic and international agenda. would ensure that from now on things Meanwhile, when reforms to the would be different, both in style and working hours of the House of substance. Commons were overturned a strong With regard style, the promise was signal was sent out – if you want to broken almost as soon as it was made. combine being an MP with having Dismissively dubbed ‘Blair’s babes’, the anything approaching a normal family photo was used to single out and life, you won’t fit in round here. belittle these women MPs before many But when one considers the promise had even set foot in the House of to transform the substance of politics a Commons let alone had a chance to very different story emerges. It is easy prove their political worth. to forget that, a decade ago, matters as And those expecting the change in important as childcare, flexible the composition of the Commons to working, violence against women and deliver a more relevant and accessible women’s pensions were seen as periph- politics have been sorely disappointed. eral to ‘serious’ politics. Women MPs Prime Minister’s Question Time is, if have worked quietly, and often across anything, more playground than ever party boundaries, to ensure that these and testosterone levels appear to sore issues have taken their rightful place on during every election campaigns as the political agenda. What more macho posturing obscures real debate. eloquent sign of change than David The loss of trust in politics – fuelled by Cameron, after winning the leadership 28 Closer to equality?

of his party, declaring many of these rarely been named as a government areas to be at the top of his list? ambition. Sometimes even the word This change in political agenda has woman appears taboo – from the brought real improvements in women’s Chancellor’s reluctance to say in public lives. As the majority of the low paid, it that he was dropping VAT on (whisper is women who have benefited most it) sanitary products to the almost from the minimum wage. Mothers universal practice of talking about ‘lone have been helped to balance paid work parent’, when what we’re overwhelm- and home life by the expansion of ingly talking about is lone mothers. childcare and vastly improved This problem is compounded by maternity leave, while fathers have Government’s tendency to present been brought into this debate for the policies piecemeal in an endless list of first time with the introduction of initiatives that voters find very difficult paternity leave. For all its administra- to connect to their daily lives. tive flaws, the tax credit system has transformed the financial circum- stances of those lone mums who can find employment. And, the first Women politicians domestic violence legislation for 30 “ years and the creation of specialist should be applauded domestic violence courts have gone for putting gender some way to helping women victims of violence. equality issues onto the But you could be forgiven for having agenda missed the dramatic surge of interest in ” gender equality. While changes in the workplace, in family policy and in other areas might add up to an impres- sive pattern of progress for women, Without a well-articulated ambition there has been a reluctance to articulate to create a more equal society for this as a feminist or even a women’s women and men, few female voters agenda. For social democratic govern- realise the extent to which the ments elsewhere, gender equality and Government has delivered for them. social justice have gone hand-in-hand. Combine this with Labour’s failures to But here in the UK, gender equality has really get to grips with ingrained, and Women 29

symbolically significant, problems such Women politicians should be as the gender pay gap and rape convic- applauded for putting gender equality tion rates and suddenly the great issues onto the agenda. Now we need advantage the party had with women all our leaders, male and female, to voters over the last ten years looks have the guts to declare that equality vulnerable. Women won the last general between women and men is core to election for Labour; the Government’s their beliefs – not an add-on to majority would have been reduced to 23 mention now and again in the hope of if only men had voted. And the impressing women voters. We need Conservatives know very well that that silent promise to be said out loud. winning over women voters will be key And this time they’ve really got to if they are to win next time round. mean it. Gay equality Gavin Hayes General Secretary, Compass

The Labour government has made other minorities in the provision of huge progress on gay equality in the goods and services – most people last 10 years. There is much to be proud would have thought you were living in of with respect to the government’s cloud cuckoo land. record on delivering equal rights and The Labour government has done social justice to gay people across the more for gay equality than any other country. government before it. The positive Under Margaret Thatcher gay people changes have been consistent and were actively scape-goated, ghettoised significant and have, in effect, trans- and discriminated against by the state. formed the way the state deals with Who could forget the introduction of homosexuality. They have also had a Section 28 and the vicious manner in wider positive impact on the way in which gay rights was debated which society deals with and treats the throughout the 1980s. Thankfully gay community. those days are over, but we should The Equality Act 2006 is the most never allow people to forget just how recent piece of legislation to eliminate awful those days were for the gay discrimination and further enshrine community at the time. into law greater equality. It bans I think it is fair to say that if you said discrimination on the grounds of to a gay person ten years ago that religion, beliefs or sexual orientation in within a decade the ban would be lifted the provision of goods; facilities and on gay people serving in the armed services; the management of premises; forces; that the age of consent for all education; and the exercise of public would be 16; that same sex couples functions. could adopt; that section 28 would be On legislative changes there are still repealed; that there would be civil part- a number of areas that will need to be nerships and that there would be an finessed in the years to come. One such Equality Act protecting gay people and area is proper justice for asylum seekers Gay equality 31

fleeing homophobic persecution. achieved massive legislative change does There are issues too over homophobic not mean we can simply pack up and go musicians who use lyrics to incite gay home. And whilst society and culture hatred and there are similar issues has changed immensely since the 1980s within some religious establishments. and even the 1990s, a great deal of On the whole however, across the gay discrimination still exists within society rights movement, there is a broad at large. Deep rooted prejudice will not consensus that for now at least the easily be removed or changed through legislative battle and argument for gay passing more laws, but nevertheless equality has largely been won. must be tackled head on. Take sport for example. Whilst, quite rightly, there have been high-profile media campaigns to kick out racism “The 2012 London from football and the likes of David Olympic Games Beckham and Stephen Gerard regularly boast about their ‘gay’ credentials, there could provide the have not yet been similar high-profile government with a campaigns to kick homophobia out of sport. The 2012 London Olympic huge opportunity to Games could provide the government send out a positive with a huge opportunity to send out a positive message and celebrate diversity message and celebrate within sport and wider society. On the television too, many charac- diversity within sport ters the soaps use as gay ‘role models’ and and wider society the story lines that are adopted to deal ” with gay issues are at best questionable and at worst down right unhelpful. Gay male characters, for example, are often But the struggle for equality and satirized by being overly camp, obsessed liberation is never over, just because we with fashion or promiscuous – all of have equality now, does not guarantee which reinforces the stereotypical image we’ll have equality in the future. There wider society has of what it is to be gay. is a real danger of people falling into In an everyday social context, all too complacency – just because we have often discrimination and homophobic 32 Closer to equality?

abuse is still a regular thing. All too often straight, and we need to find more the police and other authorities are at effective ways of dealing with it. best poor at enforcing newly won rights In conclusion, legislative gay equality and at worst out-rightly refuse to do so has largely been achieved. The govern- and instead prefer to sweep discrimina- ment should be recognised for its record tion under the table. and can rightly be proud of the progress The challenge for the future therefore that has been made in the last ten years is to ensure this kind of discrimination towards greater equality for gay people. and the deeper rooted prejudices that We should all recognise that the action still exist within some parts of society are New Labour has taken since 1997 in tackled and that attitudes are changed terms of gay people has contributed to forever. As we have seen in the battle for promoting a more socially liberal, an end to discrimination towards ethnic civilised and equal society. minorities and women, such a social But challenges for the future remain. shift will take longer than it does to pass The government must maintain and legislation, as prejudiced views and enforce the legislative equality that it has attitudes are passed down from genera- already put in place. It must also ensure tion to generation. But the government more is done to pro-actively change can and should play a very positive, perceptions held within some parts of active and enabling role in helping to wider society. It is the charge of govern- change such views and should act as an ment to act as an agent for greater social agent for greater and faster social change in respect to attitudes towards change. the gay community. It should work to In changing attitudes the government ensure this is done at an early age within should work closely with the trade union schools and ensure that homophobic movement, employers and employees to bullying in the playground and tackle homophobic attitudes where they classroom is tackled and defeated effec- exist within the workplace. More too tively. Through enforcing progress needs to be done in schools and in the already made and by pro-actively playground, to ensure we tackle discrim- promoting a socially liberal, equal and ination and prejudice at an early age. tolerant society, the government in the Homophobic bullying in schools is still a future can ensure it plays a full role in huge problem, a problem that can have a continuing to promote real and lasting lasting and damaging effect on a person’s gay equality and liberation across the long-term mental health- whether gay or country. Education Steve Sinnott General Secretary, National Union of Teachers

We have entered the period of political We said that a good local school for score-cards and checklists. Anyone every child was much more than an interested in politics and government is institution which performed according evaluating the successes and failures of to national targets. We emphasised the Labour governments under Tony that schools had the potential to be at Blair. Nowhere is Labour’s record the centre of their communities, trig- being scrutinised more intensely than gering educational, social and in education. The NUT has its own economic regeneration and benchmark; its education statement contributing to community cohesion. ‘Bringing Down the Barriers’ published A range of reforms to the in November 2004. It provided us with curriculum, inspection, teachers’ a useful policy springboard for professional development and the contributing to the turbulent debates organisation of schools sought to around the Education and Inspections realise this vision. Act. One of its key features was its focus Have Barriers Fallen? on tackling the barriers to educational Bringing Down the Barriers has opportunity created by the divisions of contributed powerfully to policy social class. It emphasised also that making. Its key proposal, ‘a good local high quality, publicly provided school for every child’ became a coun- education was vital both for local terbalance to the Government’s communities and for the country’s proposal to diversify secondary school ability to respond to the economic provision. challenge of countries such as China Indeed, to secure community and India. The best way of achieving cohesion is now a cross-party objective this was to ensure that every child and is at the heart of local and national could go to a good local school. debate. 34 Closer to equality?

Opportunities for reform have remains undimmed despite their opened up through consultations on damaging effects on teaching, learning the future of assessment and the and the morale of school communities. secondary curriculum. Teachers are still not trusted to be in The first step has been taken in charge of pedagogy, assessment and turning personalised learning into their own professional development. additional individual support for Curriculum and examination young people. reform for 14-19 year olds is still The need for a professional develop- desperately needed. Specialised ment strategy, long sought by the NUT, diplomas fail to tackle the needs of the is on the Government’s agenda. ‘Not in Education or Training’ group. The United Kingdom has, at last, hit The primary curriculum has yet to the OECD average of the percentage of be reviewed. the gross domestic product spent by Despite advances in removing countries on education. discrimination, equality of opportu- The connections between education nity has yet to be embedded in govern- systems globally are now more fully ment, local authority and school understood. practice.

Which Barriers Remain? A Positive Future There is still a long way to go. The The Chancellor’s commitment to Government remains obsessed with raising spending on education in the privatisation and private sponsorship, State sector to private sector levels is a despite the obvious limitations and positive pointer for the future. failures of the Private Finance Initiative This pointer needs developing. The and of sponsorship and control by highest priority should continue to be private companies. given to education, but without the The direction of travel towards relentless politicisation which diversity of school type and marketisa- currently accompanies it. tion can only encourage a ‘hierarchical The barriers to community cohesion pecking order of schools’, as Professor must be targeted. Local authorities and Peter Mortimore has described it. schools should be at the centre of The Government’s enthusiasm for planning for community regeneration. high stakes accountability, such as The democratic deficit which still targets and performance tables, separates schools from their communi- Education 35

ties should be addressed. The solution be targeted with additional financial must involve a new settlement which support. In this context, the NUT has balances the interests of the wider just published its Charter for Black - community with the governance of Caribbean boys’ achievement. schools. The role of the private sector A national debate centred on what must change from that of provider and an effective school is and how its effec- sponsor of State education to that of tiveness can be evaluated, is long seeking dialogue and understanding overdue. For too long, high stakes with schools. mechanisms of accountability have defined school effectiveness. The lessons of ‘bottom up’ self-evaluation must be at the centre of that debate. A national debate A new, coherent, framework “ curriculum for the 0-19 age group, centred on what an providing a scaffolding for teachers effective school is and and pupils’ creativity and learning must be adopted by a new government. how its effectiveness The lessons of successful education can be evaluated, is systems in other countries should be tapped. Within that new curriculum, long overdue teachers should be trusted to shape ” their teaching to meet the unique needs of their pupils. Future assessment arrangements must reflect this Central to a new democratic rela- approach. tionship between communities and Practical personalised learning schools must be the voices of those through one-to-one tuition at key who have the biggest stake in their points in their lives should become an schools’ success; young people. entitlement for all young people. This The concept of equality auditing should be coupled with an entitlement should be built into Government, local to a range of cultural, sporting and authority and school practice. residential activities outside school. Educationally disadvantaged groups, Labour’s new Prime Minister needs such as white working class and to enter into dialogue seriously with African-Caribbean youngsters, should the teaching profession about its 36 Closer to equality?

future. Teachers, whether they are cohesion and identifying the values students or leaders with long experi- that need to be promoted in schools ence, are very clear about what consti- across Britain. With the involvement tutes successful pedagogy and their of all stakeholders, such a body could professional development needs. The also help neutralise the current politi- teaching community is highly skilled. cisation of educational practice. A new Government must establish a The direction of travel that Labour’s strategy for the profession and its new Government must take is very clear. development which teachers feel they It should focus on equality of oppor- can own. tunity and provision, high standards A United Kingdom Council for for all and the need for learning and Education covering England, Wales, dialogue between cultures. In short, it Scotland and Northern Ireland would should focus on achieving a good local provide a forum for distilling best school for every child and for every practice in creating community community. Wealth Stewart Lansley

In the last 15 years, Britain has moved has occurred over the last decade, partic- from being one of the most equal ularly at the very top. This is because of countries in the developed world to one the skill with which the super-rich are of the most unequal. For three genera- able to hide their real and growing tions until the late 1980s, the rich steadily wealth from the prying eyes of ceded much of their once extraordinary Government statisticians and tax collec- hold on the country’s wealth to middle tors. The Sunday Times Rich List, for Britain. Indeed, the share of the nation’s example, shows that the combined wealth owned by the top one per cent fell wealth of the top 1000 has risen from from around 60 per cent in the 1920s to £98.99 billion in 1997 to just short of 17 per cent in 1991. £360 billion today, a rise of 263 per cent. It looked for a while as if this was one Indeed, the super-rich have, during Tony of history’s enduring trends. But the last Blair’s premiership, been accumulating decade and a half have seen a steady wealth at close to four times the rate of reversal of that pattern, with the wealth the ordinary person. share owned by the top one per cent The extraordinary personal wealth rising from 17 per cent in 1991 to 24 per boom of recent times is down to a cent in 200231. In contrast, the share number of significant economic shifts owned by the bottom 50 per cent has including the process of market deregu- fallen from 8 to 6 per cent over the same lation that began in the 1980s and the period. The process may have started globalisation of business and finance under Mrs Thatcher, but has continued, that has followed. But there is one over- albeit at a slightly slower pace under arching change that underlies it – a Labour, with the clock being steadily fundamental shift in cultural and turned back to levels of wealth inequality political attitudes towards the rich. It is last seen more than a generation ago. this that has enabled record City These official figures also understate bonuses, runaway executive pay and the greater concentration of wealth that soaring dividends. 38 Closer to equality?

No-where is this shift more apparent all. Indeed, the UK still limps along the than within the new Labour leadership. bottom rungs of international produc- Tony Blair has been very clear that he tivity and innovation league tables. sees nothing wrong in the rise of the Of course there are plenty of indi- super-rich and their escalating fortunes. vidual examples of entrepreneurial Peter Mandelson once told the CBI that dynamism, of people like James Dyson New Labour is ‘relaxed about people and Anita Roddick who have created getting filthy rich .` Today’s broad wealth, jobs and opportunities. But political consensus is that as long as we founding entrepreneurs who make their improve the lot of the poorest, the money through building firms and wealth gap is no longer something to products from scratch, or adding value worry about. This is perhaps one of the by improving processes are in the defining characteristics of the shift away minority in the rich lists. Rather, they from the social-democratic values that are dominated by property tycoons and used to dominate post-war politics and financiers, those who have made opinion. The escalating rewards that are fortunes through financial raiding, deal- increasingly commonplace today would making and speculative share and simply not have been acceptable in the property speculation – activities that immediate post-war decades. involve less personal risk and mostly So does the rising gap between the create less, if any, wealth. Runaway City rich and the poor no longer matter? The bonuses, for example, are often associ- principal argument used to defend the ated with rising merger activity, which wealth boom is that it is a sign of excep- in the past has been shown to enrich the tional levels of new wealth creation. The architects of the deals but is as likely to new rich, it is claimed, are not just destroy wealth as create it. The evidence making themselves wealthier but, by is also clear that the remarkable surge in expanding the size of the cake, are the packages available to FTSE 100 chief dragging the rest of us – if a little more executives – who now earn more than slowly – up behind them. If this was true 100 times the average salary compared – if many are richer as a result and no- with twenty times in the 1980s – is not one poorer – this argument would be associated with an improvement in easier to defend. The problem is that the company performance. rising personal fortunes of recent times A vibrant entrepreneurial and inno- are not in general a sign of record levels vative culture is vital to economic of wealth creation that are benefiting us progress. Exceptional merit and Wealth 39

dynamism deserve generous reward. governance rules. But these would not Some degree of inequality is necessary to work without a broader strategy that create an opportunistic culture. But all reversed today’s ‘anything goes` philos- societies ultimately only function effec- ophy towards the rich. The rising tively if the distribution of rewards is inequality of recent times is the product fair, in line with individual contributions of a cultural and political shift, from one to society. In the last decade and a half, that operated with a series of implicit rewards and merit have become increas- ‘social norms` about what was accept- ingly decoupled at the very top. able behaviour and which worked to impose a kind of natural limit at the top, to one that now defers too easily to wealth and power. In the process, the Too many of the “ ‘shame gene` that once worked to soaring fortunes of prevent excessive abuse by the economi- cally powerful has been eroded. recent times have been The strategy of indulging the rich accumulated at the while trying to tackle poverty does not square. Too many of the soaring expense of the rest fortunes of recent times have been accu- of society mulated at the expense of the rest of ” society. It is time to send out a new political signal that rewards based on merit are to be welcomed while those built at the expense of others are unac- The conventional wisdom is that ceptable. Without these wider political there is little that can be done to bring changes, and the introduction of new reward and contribution back into line, ‘social norms`, Britain will be on course a view that helpfully feeds Labour’s towards a new era of ever-widening ‘hands-off` approach to the super- inequality, one characterised by ever- wealthy. Yet there are a range of perfectly more extreme levels of wealth at the top. practical policies available to build a fairer system of rewards: a reversal of the Stewart Lansley is the author of Top trend towards a more regressive tax Man, a biography of Philip Green and of system, a more vigorous attack on tax Rich Britain: the Rise and Rise of the avoidance, a tightening of the corporate Super-Wealthy, both published in 2006. Democracy Paul Skidmore

Introduction involvement in community associa- The cash-for-peerages scandal has tions, or joining petitions and turned the nation’s gaze to the grubby protests – display an even stronger relationship between money and class bias.32 politics. But after ten years of a Labour government, the real scandal in British Why it matters politics is not that the rich have too Democracy has often been viewed as a much influence but that the poor have weapon of the least affluent. As the too little. American community organiser Saul It’s widely known that the gap Alinsky put it, “the power of the Have- between the haves and the have-nots Nots rests only with their numbers.”33 grew rapidly in the 1980s and 1990s. Labour has helped lift low income Labour has managed to arrest that households out of poverty with growth, but not reverse it. policies like the minimum wage and But political inequality has also been tax credits for working families. But growing. The difference in voter those achievements must outlast the turnout between the highest social lifetime of Labour in power (however classes and the lowest is probably wider long that may be), and that will not now than at any point since the happen unless those who most directly abolition of property requirements. At benefit from these policies are politi- the last general election it had reached cally mobilised to defend them. The 17%. comparison with the U.S., where low This would be less worrying if the turnout by the poor has been least affluent were simply choosing to commonplace, is instructive: the level exercise their political voice in others of the federal minimum wage was ways. But in fact the forms of political frozen under Republican governments and civic activism that lie outside in the 1980s and again in the late 1990s formal representative politics – things and 2000s. Before Democrats managed like membership of interest groups, to wrest back control of Congress and Democracy 41

duly legislated to increase the interest groups, it greatly increases minimum wage at the start of this year, their propensity to get interested and its real value had fallen to its lowest involved in it. level since 1955.34 No “progressive But at the same time as social consensus” worthy of the name can be inequality increased in the 1980s and built without the active participation of 1990s, the level of political mobilisa- the least well-off. tion has declined. The decline of trade unions has weakened one of the Why it’s happened institutions best-placed to mobilise What has essentially happened over the the least well-off into politics. last 10 years is that the least interested Another – the Church of England – and engaged, who in the past would at also suffered in this period, losing least still turn out to vote, have tuned 349,000 regular Sunday church- out of politics altogether. According to goers, over a quarter of the total, the latest edition of British Social between 1980 and 2005.37 Attitudes, “Since 1997 turnout has It is true that new social movements fallen by no less than 28 percentage and single issue NGOs emerged in this points amongst those least interested in period. But these groups are politics, but by only 6 points amongst dominated by the middle class,38 and the most interested.”35 their membership base is often The problem is that on most intended mainly to finance a measures of political interest and centralised, professionalized advocacy engagement those in social classes A operation rather than to act as the foot and B score about twice as high as their soldiers of a genuine political counterparts in social classes D and E.36 movement. In other words, the least engaged who have been turned off politics have been Tackling political inequality drawn disproportionately from the There are some institutional fixes that ranks of the least well-off. might help address the problem. For Research has shown that mobilisa- example, a strong argument in favour tion is key to political participation. If of electoral reform is that propor- people are “invited” to participate in tional representation appears to do a the political process through interme- better job of promoting political diaries like political parties, trade equality. It gives parties a stronger unions, community associations or incentive to spread their resources 42 Closer to equality?

across all constituencies, which residents.40 The simple lesson of tenant matters when mobilisation plays such involvement is that when an issue is close a major role in getting voters to the to people’s lives, they care enough to polls. More controversially, the inter- want to get involved; when they have a national evidence suggests that channel for getting involved, they will; compulsory voting is a powerful way and when they see that their participa- to raise turnout and narrow inequali- tion makes a difference, they carry on. ties in turnout between rich and Labour urgently needs to think about poor.39 how that lesson could inform the wider public service reform agenda, and partic- ularly the vast array of boards, panels and committee structures it has created to “Labour has become give people more say over local public a party built around services. Party reform must also play a role. incumbency not Too many of Labour’s internal processes have been predicated on the insurgency. It has assumption that what party members not worked want, what will keep them energised, ” and what will attract new members to the fold, is the chance to influence policy. To borrow David Miliband’s However, history teaches us that real phrase, Labour has become a party democratic progress only comes when built around incumbency not insur- people demand it for themselves. We gency.41 It has not worked. need to get better at understanding The Citizens’ Organising Foundation what kind of organisations are good at has been extraordinarily successful at mobilising these demands, and how we mobilising some of the country’s most can best support them. disadvantaged communities, first in A good place to start looking would be East London and later across the capital the 250 Tenant Management and now in Birmingham, to demand Organisations that have been set up over (and achieve) living wages, better the last 10-15 years. TMOs have been housing, and improved treatment for very effective both at getting people new migrants.42 There are lessons in involved and in improving services for COF’s success for Labour’s internal Democracy 43

party reform: the emphasis on local greatest he”, said the Leveller Thomas campaigns; the slow, painstaking Rainborough. That fundamental construction of a coalition of progres- principle has animated democratic sive organisations in particular areas; reform in our country for 350 years. careful, inclusive negotiations to We must honour it again today. establish shared priorities; realistic goals for change; judicious selection of Paul Skidmore is a McConnell Fellow in targets; and a willingness to embrace the MPA programme at the Woodrow creative, eye-catching ways to get their Wilson School for Public and message across. International Affairs at Princeton University and a former government Conclusion adviser. This article is based on Polls “I think the poorest he that is in Apart: Democracy in an Age of England hath a life to live as the Inequality (Compass Thinkpiece #23). Notes

1 Jack Warden, BMJ, 1998, 316: 493 (14 Feb) http://www.bmj.com/cgi/ 13 Dominc Maxwell and Soinia Sodha, Housing Wealth, IPPR 2006 content/full/316/7130/493/d 14 RICS European Housing Review 2007 2 There is, of course, a far greater body count that will dominate the 15 M. Francis, Building Hope – The case for more homes now, Shelter, history of New Labour until the last of its architects are themselves 2005 dead, and which puts our local body counting into context: See Kim 16 Shelter Against the Odds: An investigation comparing the lives of McPherson, 2005, “Counting the dead in Iraq” BMJ, 330, 550-551, children on either side of Britain’s housing divide, Shelter, November “Counting the dead is intrinsic to civilised society. Understanding the 2006 causes of death is a core public health responsibility.” 17 The Great Divide, Shelter doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7491.550 18 UNICEF, An overview of child well-being in rich countries, Report 3 The Source of data used to draw the figure above is: Tackling Health card 7, 2007 Inequalities: Status Report on the Programme for Action, London: 19 National Statistics, Households Below Average Incomes series Department of Health , 11 August 2005, p.27 (note infant mortality 2005/06, Department for Work and Pensions, 2007 Table A3. Figures figures are for England and Wales only; figures for three year period are after housing costs. ending December of the date shown, last period being 2001-2003 in 20 National Statistics, Share of wealth, see www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/ that data); Note also that by very large area: reported infant mortality nugget.asp?id=2. Site checked May 2007 rates, 2002, were lowest at 3.8 per thousand live births in the Norfolk, 21 National Statistics, Households Below Average Incomes series 2005/06, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire Strategic Health Authority (SHA) and at Department for Work and Pensions, 2007 Chapter 4. Figures are after 3.9 per thousand in Thames Valley SHA. Rates were highest at 7.0 per housing costs. thousand in West Yorkshire SHA and 7.7 per thousand in 22 See Fabian Commission on life chances and child poverty, Fabian Birmingham and the Black Country SHA. The latest 2003-2005 Society, 2006 national figures are derived from: Tackling health inequalities: 2003-05 23 See written evidence to the Treasury Select Committee budget 2007 data update for the national 2010 PSA target, London: Department of inquiry, 2007 Health, 21 December 2006 . The change was slight, a 1 % drop, and 24 www.makechildbenefitcount.org within the bounds of error (which the rise is not). Being published in 25 See McGlone, F and Dornan, P, Comprehensive spending review 2007 August and just before Christmas neither Report has received much what it needs to deliver on child poverty, Child Poverty Action Group, attention. 2006 4 Source: ONS details in Dorling, D, Mitchell, R., Orford, S., Shaw, M., 26 As Lisa Harker recently recommended in her review of the and Davey-Smith, G. (2005). Inequalities and Christmas Yet to Come. Department for Work and Pensions strategy on child poverty: Harker, BMJ, 331(7529): 1409; see http://sasi.group.shef.ac.uk/ L, Delivering on child poverty, what would it take? The Stationary publications/2005/BMJ_letter_dec05.pdf. Figure 2 in Dorling, D. Office, 2006, Cm 6951 (2006) Class Alignment Renewal: The Journal of Labour Politics 27 Toynbee, P, Hard Work life in low-pay Britain, Bloomsbury, 2003, 14(1), 8-19: http://sasi.group.shef.ac.uk/publications/2006/ pp.3-4 dorling_class_alignment.pdf 28 IFS.Poverty and inequality in Britain 2006 5 It was of course the Conservative governments of 1979-1997 that saw 29 The Observer April 15 2007 and helped the gap widen from historically low levels of inequality 30 Labour market performance, income inequality and poverty in OECD experienced in the 1950s, 1960 and early 1970s. countries, July 2006 6 Tackling health inequalities: 2003-05 data update for the national 2010 31 2002 is the latest reliable official figure; the figure for 2003 is in the PSA target, London: Department of Health, 21 December 2006, page 6 process of being revised (on which it also shows the gap in life expectancy between the 32 See Paul Skidmore (2007) Polls Apart: Democracy in An Age of Spearhead group and the rest widening from 2.60% to 2.61% for men Inequality Compass Thinkpiece No. 23 (London: Compass). Available in the most recent period, and from 1.90% to 1.91% for women). See at: http://clients.squareeye.com/uploads/compass/documents/ http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/Public CTP23PollsApartSkidmore.pdf ationsStatistics/DH_063689 33 Saul Alinsky, Rules for Radicals (Vintage, 1989) 7 21 November 2006 press release, ONS: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/ 34 Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, http://www.cbpp.org/8-31- pdfdir/liex1106.pdf“Of the ten local authorities with the highest 06mw.htm male life expectancy at birth all are in England: five in the South 35 British Social Attitudes 2007 – Perspectives on a Changing Society East, three in the East of England, and one each in the South West (London: National Centre for Social Research, 2007) and London. Eight of the ten local authorities with the lowest male 36 Electoral Commission/Hansard Society/MORI, 2006 Audit of Political life expectancy are in Scotland. Glasgow City (69.9 years) is the only Engagement 3 www.electoralcommission.gov.uk/files/dms/ area in the UK where life expectancy at birth is less than 70 years. Auditofpoliticalengagement3-fullreport_20006 The local authority with the highest male life expectancy is 14653__E__N__S__W__.pdf Kensington and Chelsea (82.2 years), 12.3 years more than Glasgow 37 http://www.churchsociety.org/issues_new/church/stats/ City (see Table 3). Kensington and Chelsea also has the highest life iss_church_stats_attendance.asp expectancy for females (86.2 years), 9.5 years more than Glasgow 38 G Jordan and W Maloney, 1998. ‘Manipulating Membership: Supply- City, the lowest at 76.7 years (Table 4).” side influences on group size’, British Journal of Political Science Vol.28 8 The list of potential victims of policy failure was drawn up shortly pp 389-409 after the 1997 election victory: see Dorling, D (1998) Whose voters 39 E Keaney and B Rogers, A Citizen’s Duty (ippr, 2006) suffer if inequalities in health remain?, Journal of Contemporary 40 ODPM, Tenants Managing: An Evaluation of Tenant Management Health, 7, 50-54. The full paper is available here:http://www.sasi. Organisations in England 2002. http://members.nftmo.com/ group.shef.ac.uk/publications/1998/dorling_voting_and_inequalities.p upload/library/TMO_005.pdf; Audit Commission/Housing df Table 5 in the paper listed the number of voters who would Corporation, 2004, Housing: improving services through resident continue to die young 1997 onwards, by their MPs, in the worse-off involvement http://www.audit commission.gov.uk/ areas, were inequalities to remain so high. Products/NATIONAL-REPORT/2640A11E-6E8D-4B60-87B8- 9 ODPM Sustainable Communities: Homes For All, ODPM 2005 1E44B9233384/Resident_involvement_Report.pdf 10 HM Revenue and Customs 41 D Miliband, 2002. ‘From insurgents to incumbents: maintaining 11 B. Thomas and D. Dorling ‘Know your place: inequalities in housing our radicalism in a second term’, Renewal Vol. 10, No. 2, wealth’ in S. Regan(ed) The Great Divide: An analysis of housing pp. 56-65 inequality, Shelter, 2005 42 www.cof.org.uk. See also: http://www.guardian. co.uk/commentisfree 12 Halifax, 15.01.2007 /story/0,,1953143,00.html The test of any Labour government is whether it leaves the “country more equal than it found it. Labour has kept its head above the water – just. But social mobility is still going backwards and the GINI co-efficient, the internationally accepted measure of inequality, is slightly worse for the UK now than in 1997. This is not good enough and should be a sobering closer to thought as we move into a new era of Labour government.

We must build on the progress to date, and accept that the challenge we face is greater than that anticipated a decade ago. Progress for some must be translated to progress for all. equality? Every day, not another ten years from now, we have to subject ourselves to the same scrutiny and face the same judgement – are we making Britain more equal? We have to ensure the will, the means and the public support to make it happen. ” Assessing New Labour’s record on equality after 10 years in government

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