The Minister for Women will not attend Boris Johnson’s summit on violence against women, Downing Street has said.
The PM announced last night that he would be chairing a special meeting of the Crime and Justice Taskforce to “discuss further steps to protect women and girls and make sure our streets are safe.”
It’s understood that alongside the PM at the meeting will be Met Commissioner Cressida Dick, Home Secretary Priti Patel, Justice Secretary Robert Buckland and Director of Public Prosecutions Max Hill.
But no minister from the Government Equalities Office - including Women and Equalities Minister Liz Truss - will attend the meeting.
The Government has long been criticised for making the role a “part-time” post.
Ms Truss is also Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade.
Her predecessor was Amber Rudd, who was also Work and Pensions Secretary - and also held the role while she was Home Secretary.
In fact, there has never been a cabinet-level Minister for Women and Equalities who did not also have another job, since the role was created in 1997.
Asked if Liz Truss was too busy to attend the meeting, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: "I've set out who is attending.
“As you're aware, the Prime Minister will chair it. You've got the attendance list."
And asked how the Government can say it's taking women's equality issues seriously when nobody from the Equalities Office will be attending, the spokesman said: "As you know this is an existing forum and it is a taskforce that has met previously.
“The Home Secretary is leading and the Home Office leads when it comes to policing matters."
