The Equality Trust has responded to today’s Government publication of a Race Disparity Audit. Dr. Wanda Wyporska, Executive Director of The Equality Trust, said:

“While we welcome additional conversations and publicity about racial disparities and discrimination, we also need to see more action. It’s good to see the Government start to take racism and discrimination seriously, but this audit tells us what we already know – that social and economic inequality are rife across the country.

“For people from disadvantaged backgrounds, bland platitudes about providing everyone with ‘opportunity’ won’t mean much. They know that the answer is not yet more training schemes, which insinuate that they themselves are the problem and that they need to work harder.  

“Gender, race and economic inequality are all linked; it is not possible to tackle one form of disadvantage without tackling them all. But showing the scale of the problem is not the same as taking real action to address it. That’s why this government must commit to a comprehensive inequality reduction strategy if it serious about tackling injustice.”

The Equality Trust is a registered charity that works to improve the quality of life in the UK by reducing economic inequality. UK income inequality is among the highest in the developed world and evidence shows that this results in poorer mental and physical health, higher violent crime, poorer educational outcomes and lower levels of trust. Inequality affects us all. For further comments or to arrange an interview, contact info@equalitytrust.org.uk