Readers reflect on the resignation of Alan Milburn from the Social Mobility CommissionThe resignation of Alan Milburn and the other members of the Social Mobility Commission on the grounds that the government’s “rhetoric of healing social divisions [is not] matched with the reality” suggests naivety (Never mind social mobility. Poverty is an insult to us all,4 December). We could fill a library with the accumulated evidence of the spectrum of inequalities published since 1960. The critical question is why these have only resulted in, at most, and incremental rather than substantive changes. The depressing narrative is that successive governments have introduced a wide range of social and economic policies,many reinforcing the belief that individuals are responsible for their own fate. The “success” of these policies is reflected in electoral support for inequality, including how the most vulnerable often blame themselves for failing to manage. This is an opportunity for Labour not only to reinforce its commitment to abolish poverty, or as Zoe Williams suggests,but also to address inequality in all its manifestations and offer the electorate a comprehensive programme to achieve this.
Prof Mike Stein
University of York One doesn’t need to be left of the far-centre of an opposition”, as Zoe Williams claims, or to find [Theresa] May’s equality shtick rather tough to swallow”,as the prime minister’s repeated failures to act on any one of her aims regarding “burning injustices stated in her Downing Street speech lead to an all too obvious conclusion.
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Source: guardian.co.uk