New Labour & Inequality
Writing in today’s Guardian, Yvette Cooper - the Social Exclusion Minister - argues that tackling social exclusion will not, alone, promote social justice and that the Blair government needs to go a step further by addressing inequality too.
This is very interesting - particularly given the lengths Blair went to to avoid recourse to the language of equality rather than inclusion when interviewed by Paxman during the 2001 General Election campaign. The Guardian interpret it as a signal that the government’s anti-poverty drive is being stepped up and report that Brown & Prescott are holding special meetings with all departments ahead of the 2004 Spending Review to ensure that their programmes will address issues surrounding poverty, social mobility & generational inequality.
