Labour has secured a vote on its
amendment to the Finance Bill to force the Government to conduct an assessment
of the impact of social security changes and fiscal measures on disadvantaged
groups.
The Government failed to meet
Labour’s demand for the Budget to be audited on the basis of gender, race, age, disability, class and region.
Other parties have now joined Labour calls for transparency, with 127 MPs from
Labour, the Lib Dems, SNP and the Greens, signing Dawn Butler’s letter to
Justine Greening calling for all Government policy to be assessed for their
impact on disadvantaged groups.
Although the Public Sector
Equality Duty (PSED) places a legal responsibility on public bodies, including
the Treasury, to conduct equality assessments, the Treasury has failed to
publish adequate equalities audits of its fiscal measures.
This comes as analysis shows that
86 per cent of tax and social security changes continue to fall on women and
women only received two thirds of the spending men received in this budget.
Dawn Butler MP,
Labour’s Shadow Women and Equalities Minister, said:
“The Tories’ failed austerity
project has hit the most vulnerable groups in our society the hardest, forcing
women, ethnic minority communities and disabled people to pay the highest
price.
“The Finance Bill represents more
of the same for groups with protected characteristics who have borne the brunt
of Conservative economic failure for too long. We need a detailed assessment to
reveal the full damage of Tory austerity.
“The next Labour
government will ensure that we publish comprehensive equality impact
assessments to enable us to truly build an economy that works for the many, not
the few.”
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