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What if all decisions made by government and local authorities had to consider how you could reduce socio-economic inequalities? That's the promise Labour made in their manifesto when they agreed to commence the socio-economic duty, a piece of the Equality Act that was never brought into force. 

In Scotland and Wales, as well as a host of cities in England, the duty has already been adopted and it's led the people in power to choose alternatives to cuts; to stop sending bailiffs to people in debt and instead offer them ethical debt support; to adopt living wages and offer grants to people leaving care. It's not the socialism in one clause that over-excited journalists called it back in 2009. Instead, it's a tool that policy-makers, elected officials, and grassroots communities have been able to use to confront the kind of unfair decisions and systems our society is full of and say: make it fairer. It will benefit everyone in society, and especially people in more deprived areas, to have that kind of voice; it's a small but significant shift in power away from unequal systems towards people.

That's why we're working to convince the government to fulfil their manifesto committent as soon as possible. We want a date this duty will be commenced; for the duty to be implemented in the fairest way possible; and for authorities to be given enough resources for decisions to be meaningful.

We've won support from dozens of MPs and trade unions. We've been joined by over 100 other organisations who've signed on to this campaign. Now we need your help!

Too many MPs still don't understand the duty and it's come under renewed attack from politicians and culture warriors keen to expand the Elon Musk and Milei-style rhetoric attacking regulations and civil servants. 

We think MPs from all parties should be able to get behind a duty to make decisions fairer, but they're always much more likely to listen to their constituents than charities, so we want you to send them postcards before parliament resumes work on September 1st.

All you have to do is sign up using our tool and we'll print and send a postcard to your MP with your name on it, along with a short guide to the socio-economic duty and how we'll all benefit. 

Help us make it impossible for MPs not to understand the socio-economic duty and shore up support for the idea of equality in the face of Musk and Milei-lite campaigns against it. 
 
Send your MP a postcard

Unfortunately, someone privatised Royal Mail and sold it to a Czech billionaire, so postage is expensive. We run these campaigns based on supporter funding from people like you. 

This means we can talk about what matters, from AI psychosis affecting tech CEOs to the murky origins of anti-tax talking points, without relying on the whims of billionaire funders, for free, every week.

Anything you can spare to help us run this, and other, campaigns will have a huge impact! 
 
Chip in to support our work
Equality Trust writes for LSE: How inequality destroys communities

In the last article of our joint series with the London School of Economics, read Aini Gauhar's analysis of how inequality affects the ties that bind. Our research has indicated a strong link between inequality and greater mistrust, both of each other and of institutional systems. This corrodes democracy in a vicious cycle, itself feeding into other systems like shame and violence. To reweave our social fabric, Gauhar writes, we need to make a break with inequality.

Also if you missed it, read Kate Pickett's article on health outcomes from last week!
Read more
 

We're aware that when clicking links in our newsletters, some users are being warned that the link is unsafe. This is due to a problem between Microsoft and our email provider, SendGrid. The links are safe to open.
 
Weekly Poll: The socio-economic duty and culture wars
 

Would you or your MP support the socio-economic duty? How much impact would it have? Plus: how should we respond to culture war campaigns against equality?

Thanks to everyone who votes! The results will be reported next week.

 
VOTE NOW

How could we build a new generation of council houses? You said:

  • "Government's attitude to local government would need to be entirely reversed - Central and local government should be working together to solve problems at a local level, and there needs to be proper finance and support from Central Government to enable local authorities to rebuild their ability to provide social housing. Right to buy should be stopped entirely. The government needs to cease being an enabler for corporate house builders."
  • "Empower councils to borrow and use 60 year bonds and other long term funding options. Re introduce a housing revenue subsidy to cover borrowing costs before revenue stream from rents is achieved."

  • "First end right to buy. Put strict covenants on building banning private letting and subletting - and actually enforce them! Make sure that developments consist of a combination of private, housing association and council houses all mixed up together (I get the utopian post war intention to build cities in the sky of 100% council housing - it was a noble and well intentioned idea, but history has shown us that it doesn't work!) .

    Build entire communities in the New Town model - I live in one of the 'New Towns' and it is amazing. Beautifully planned with green spaces, play parks schools, shops and healthcare all easily accessible, most on foot."

  • "From communities upwards instead of top down. What housing and amenities do communities need? How can they be sustained?"

  • "Expropriate houses and other buildings that have been left empty and those being let but in disrepair. Bring them into effective and safe social housing use. (Residents in poor quality private housing could be offered a place in a building that had been empty while their home was repaired.) You have to remove right-to-buy first or any new social housing disappears at a financial loss to the community.You also need to consider the impact on pension funds."

     

  • "Appropriate land as necessary from private-builders' "landbanks". Introduce rent-controls on private rentals and raise money from a substantial "profits tax" on private landlords."
Inequality in Numbers

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The Equality Trust
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+44 (0)20 3637 0324

info@equalitytrust.org.uk