In view of Liz Truss’s ill-informed speech (Liz Truss’s record of picking white, male trade advisers criticised, 17 December), I look forward to the government (1) finally enacting section 1 of Labour’s Equality Act 2010 – “the socio-economic equality duty” – which is aimed at the very inequality she purports to care about; and (2) introducing an anti-poverty strategy to combat the poverty that Tory policies since 2010 (and previously) have caused and exacerbated, highlighted by Owen Jones (The Tories created the very class inequality they pretend to rail against, 18 December).
To be effective, such a strategy must address the intersecting inequalities of gender, race and disability that shape poverty’s impact and incidence.
Ruth Lister
Labour, House of Lords
• It seems to me that Liz Truss may have made more than one mistake in her speech about equality. The first is that by appointing a majority of white men, she will miss opportunities to gain from a greater diversity of experience and views. Rather than ignoring “unrepresentative voices”, she is now only able to hear the voices of the overrepresented. Her second error is, therefore, that she perpetuates the exclusion of certain groups from positions of power (for example, women and members of black, Asian and minority ethnic communities), voices that for too long have not been represented, heard and listened to. I suggest that her mistakes signal errors of judgment and a lack of regard for social justice.
Prof Simon Gibbs
Newcastle University
• “Equalities minister” Liz Truss has misgivings about her state education in Leeds, claiming: “While we were taught about racism and sexism, there was too little time spent making sure everyone could read and write.” My understanding is that Ms Truss’s comprehensive school enabled her to gain a place at Oxford, so the evidence suggests her literacy did not suffer unduly. I’m not convinced the racism and sexism lessons worked, though.
Chris Barnham
London
