Backlash as ministers vow to ditch focus on ‘fashionable’ fight against inequality

Sign up for the Independent Women email for the latest news, opinion and features Get the Independent Women email for free Get the Independent Women email for free SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Women and equalities minister Liz Truss said there would be a “new approach” to the government’s equality policy in a speech on Thursday, arguing that the debate has been “dominated by a small number of unrepresentative voices”, and by “those who believe people are defined by their protected characteristic". Instead of looking for new ways to divide communities and pining for an era of Thatcherite individualism, the Tories should focus on fixing the structural inequality that holds people back.” Campaigners accused Ms Truss of failing to listen to communities and “shirking” responsibilities on tackling inequality, arguing that addressing poverty and inequalities in the UK should not mean “pitting gender and race on one side against class on the other”. The Government Equalities Office’s latest national LGBT Survey, published in 2018, found that at school, college or university, 19 per cent of LGBT+ people experienced verbal harassment, as well as having much higher rates of mental health disorders, such as depression and anxiety, The same research also found that hate crime was steadily rising against LGBT+ people across the country, with the number of reported homophobic hate crimes almost trebling over five years, and a 25 per cent increase in the reports of transphobic hate crimes in one year alone. Home secretary Priti Patel backed Mr Truss’s plans on Thursday morning, telling Times Radio: “We’re focusing on the people’s priorities – we shouldn’t be indulging in fashionable issues of political correctness.”