The next prime minister must fix Britain’s social mobility crisis and force “privilege hoarders” to share opportunity, an ex-cabinet minister will warn.
Justine Greening will use a speech in the North East to tell Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt they must address the stark inequality gap which “is a brake on Britain being successful in the 21st Century” if they win power.
The ex-education secretary will underline that working class or less privileged people face “barriers that block out talent and potential” and the Conservative government must redouble its efforts to knock them down.
It comes after social mobility tsar Dame Martina Milburn’s latest ‘state of the nation’ report found the level of inequality in Britain had been “virtually stagnant” since 2014, and that:
Children with parents from professional backgrounds were 80% more likely to go into a top profession such as law or medicine than their peers due to connections and educational background
Working class people in professional careers earn on average 17% less than their more privileged peers
There are “double disadvantages” of class, disability, ethnicity and gender, with working class women paid 35% less than affluent male peers in professional occupations, and only one in five working class people with disabilities were entering the highest occupations.
Speaking ahead of the summit on social mobility in Newcastle, which will bring together civic and business leaders, Greening told HuffPost UK: “A group I want to reach out to are those with opportunity and privilege now.
“Those for whom Britain is already working, doors are already, and naturally open. Because a door to opportunity is not really open if it’s only some that can walk through.
“Where there are overt, or inadvertent barriers that block out talent and potential, that’s a brake on Britain being successful in the 21st Century.
“We’ve got to remove the barriers that stop some people from being the best version of themselves. The privilege hoarders must become privilege sharers.”
Greening resigned as education secretary last year after refusing to accept a job as work and pensions secretary in Theresa May’s administration.
Since then, the comprehensive school-educated Tory MP for Putney, who is from a working class background and experienced life on benefits before entering politics, has dedicated her time to tackling inequality.
Earlier this year, she launched the ‘Social Mobility Pledge’, which asks businesses to provide apprenticeships and redesign recruitment policies.
Both foreign secretary Hunt and ex-mayor of London Johnson attended elite fee-paying private schools and Oxford University before becoming MPs. The battle for Number 10 has largely focused on Brexit.
Meanwhile, several charities have warned that automation and sharp technological change could not only wipe out tens of thousands of jobs in sectors such as retail and hospitality, but also further damage working class people’s life chances.
Milburn warned in April: “As automation changes the world of work, these divides could worsen, as workers in low pay and with low qualifications are most at risk of their work being automated, while at the same time are the least likely to access training to re-skill.”
The summit is being hosted by the Newcastle-based financial services and technology firm True Potential, whose chairman David Harrison founded the Harrison Centre for Social Mobility (HCSM), which works with disadvantaged young people who have fallen out of mainstream education.
As a region, the North East is the worst performing in terms of social mobility among young people. It is also below the national average for social mobility in adulthood.
So far, more than 300 employers representing over two million employees, including BP, Sainsbury’s, True Potential, Morrisons, John Lewis and ITV, have signed up to Greening’s social mobility pledge.