Good afternoon and thank you to Neal and the team at Compass for inviting me here. This conference is looking at building the “good society” from a European perspective and I’d like to talk to you briefly about how we in the British Labour government view that very important question and about the work of the National Equality Panel which is reporting next week.

Of course it is right that the question of equality must be central to the building of the “Good Society” - what kind of society we want to live in and see for future generations.

Those of us on the left of politics – across Europe and the world - have always been concerned about inequality, about social justice.

The question of equality is not just rooted in our traditional values and linked with our past, it’s essential for the future.

This whole approach is an appeal to modernity and a vision of the future - because it is about the individual, the economy and society.

Equality matters:
o    For individuals, who deserve to be treated fairly and have the opportunity to fulfil their potential and achieve their aspirations;
o    For the economy, because the economy that will succeed in the future is one that draws on the talents of all, not one which is blinkered by prejudice and marred by  discrimination;
o    For society, because an equal society is more cohesive and at ease with itself.


Since we came into government in 1997, we have been determined to tackle the unfairness that holds people back and give everyone the opportunity to succeed. 

And we have made some significant progress:

•    Without the Government action that we took, as the IFS point out, inequality would have grown: this is what happened in the 80’s and 90s.   Because of the choices we made once we were in government, substantial growth in income inequality has been arrested and the gender pay gap has narrowed.
•    From the mid 90’s to the mid 2000’s, in the UK, income inequality fell while it increased in Sweden, Italy, Germany and Norway.
•    Compared to other EU countries, the UK has high employment rates
•    We also have made progress on reducing child poverty, pensioner poverty, and helping work pay through Tax credits and the minimum wage.
•    To promote opportunity, we have transformed investment in childcare; improved our schools; revitalised apprenticeships; and expanded access to university.
We have made progress over the last 12 years on opening up opportunity and creating a fairer society. But we are not complacent – we know there is still more to do if the barriers to allowing everyone to realise their aspirations are to be removed.



But what do we know/have learned about inequality?

Equality must, of course, mean the absence of discrimination on grounds of race, gender, faith, sexual orientation, disability and age.

But we also know that overarching and interwoven with these strands is the persistent inequality of social class – your family background and where you were born.

We also know that tackling inequality - and building the good society – is a major long term, public policy challenge. This means we must found our actions on the most robust and sophisticated analysis of inequality, its roots and how it affects people’s lives.

We have to understand – in a forensic way – the extent to which inequality still prevails and its shape and nature in today’s society, which is different from what is was in the past.


That’s why in 2008 I established the National Equality Panel in order to

•    to provide that detailed and profound analysis
•    take stock of the progress that we have made over the last decade
•    and be clear about how we make further progress in the future,

Chaired by Prof John Hills, they are a panel of the most distinguished academics in Britain whose task - rather like the Royal Commission on Income and Wealth which Harold Wilson set up - was to

•    ask the question “how does who you are affect your life chances?”  -

•    to document the relationship between inequalities in people’s economic outcomes – such as earnings, income and wealth – and their characteristics and circumstances such as gender, age, ethnicity or class.

This is the first time that there has – anywhere in the world - ever been a study which analyses and unpicks the affect of both class and the different characteristics of gender, race, disability etc

The findings of the National Equality Panel will be published in a 450 page report on Wednesday. Although it has focused on Britain, it will undoubtedly be of interest to many of you here today from a European perspective.

I don’t want to pre-report their findings and the government will respond in full next week when the report is published. But the value of their report is that it identifies and quantifies how inequality advances - or can be mitigated - over a person’s life time. 

The report will show clearly and document for the first time, how inequality is cumulative over an individual’s lifetime and is carried from one generation to the next.

The report also shows that public policy intervention works and has played a major role in halting the rise in inequality which was gaining ground in the 1980s.  Public policy has narrowed gaps in educational attainment, narrowed the gap between men and women’s pay and tackled poverty in retirement. 

The National Equality Panel Report will show the key stages in people’s lives where public policy intervention is most important– during the pre-school years, at the transition from education to the workplace and on re-entering the labour market after having children.

It will reframe the debate on public policy intervention, the action that must be taken to address inequality and raise aspiration so that everyone gets a fair crack of the whip.


A further step will be taken forward in the Equality Bill – a landmark piece of legislation which is going through our Parliament right now and which will help make Britain fairer. The first clause will place, for the first time, a legal duty on key public authorities to play their part in narrowing the gap between rich and poor.

Clause One of the Equality Bill means that in every important action these public authorities take, and in every important decision they make, they will have to ask themselves – “will this help tackle the inequalities in our society which are rooted in income and wealth?”  This will apply to Government departments.  It will apply to the decisions of Ministers, as well as to local government and to Regional Development Agencies.

We believe it is the first legal duty of its kind anywhere in the world and will be a significant advance in public policy terms to further narrow the gaps between rich and poor.

But what does this means in terms of the wider political discourse?

Since 1997, we have stopped the trend of rising inequality and have made good progress on tackling inequality and improving people’s lives through focussed Government intervention.

But we inherited a vast legacy of inequality which dated back to a Conservative right wing government in the1980’s and the legacy is still there in people’s lives today.

We want to continue tackling the inequality that remains in today’s Britain and this will be an important issue in the next general election.

And the big choice for people will be:

•    Who will they trust to make sure their children get a decent chance to make the most of themselves?
•    Who will they trust to make sure that we don’t return to the days when inequality was spiralling; where a tiny minority of the population got all the rewards and where the majority were left struggling on their own?
•    Who will they trust to return the economy to growth and to make sure that everyone will get a share of future prosperity?

Labour’s decision was to be an active government during the recession and help those who were most vulnerable; those who faced the greatest struggle and we helped make the downturn less painful than previous recessions. Though we are not complacent, we are encouraged by yesterday’s news about the fall in unemployment.

Not only would the Tories put the economy at risk, they would turn back the tide on making Britain fairer. More people would unfairly be held back in life while a small proportion of the population would enjoy opportunities to get ahead. And the gap would only grow with policies such as

•    The married man’s tax allowance
•    The proposed £200,000 tax cut to the 3,000 wealthiest estates.

Conclusion

The question of tackling inequality will remain very much at the heart of the argument about what makes for a good society and will influence the major political debates that are taking place here and across the whole of Europe right now.

So the big choice at the next election for people here in the UK to make is between an unchanged, right wing Tory party that denies inequality exists and Labour which recognises the challenge of inequality and has the commitment, the values and the policies to tackle it.


Thank you for your time today.

THE GOOD SOCIETY
COMPASS, 21st January 2010
London

Rt Hon Harriet Harman, MP, Deputy Labour Leader & Minister for Equality