Nigel Farage has been accused of being “stuck in the 1970s” after he said women were less willing than men to make personal sacrifices to be successful in business.
The Reform UK leader made his comments as he hit out at diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) policies designed to improve the prospects of those in minority groups.
Speaking at a Westminster lunch, Farage said: “The world is changing – women in work etc. Changes in population. But the idea that you give certain groups privileges not based on merit, but based on skin colour or sexuality or whatever is wrong and it doesn’t work.”
Asked if the reason why 80% of the top jobs in the country are held by white men is because of merit, Farage replied: “No, I think the truth of it is in many, many cases, women make very different life choices to men.
“If you look at business, men are prepared to sacrifice their family lives in order to pursue a career and be successful in a way that fewer women are. And those women who do have probably got more chance of reaching the top than the blokes.”
Natalie Fleet, the Labour MP for Bolsover, said: “Nigel Farage seems to be stuck in the 1970s. He clearly has no idea about the sacrifices women make, how on earth can his party represent them?”