Hewitt: Job is best defence against social exclusion
Reforms to make Britain a more equal nation must not come at the expense of economic growth, Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt said today.
But she also warned that trying to protect the British national interest by putting up trade barriers would not work and would be “wrong in principle”.
Speaking at a Fabian Society conference on European employment strategies, Ms Hewitt said the Government had performed a ‘significant’ re-regulation of the labour market during the past eight years, introducing measures such as flexible working and raising the minimum wage.
However, the Government would not make the mistake of trying to create social change by putting an ever-increasing burden on businesses. The European Union’s Lisbon strategy – which aims to make Europe the world’s most competitive economy by 2020 – was based on the principle that economic progress cannot be divorced from social justice, she added.
“We can set good standards that cover all employers without in any way damaging job creation,” she said.
“A job is the best defence against social exclusion.”
Ms Hewitt said that increased growth in developed countries would aid Western nations by creating new markets for their products. Some workers would be displaced, she admitted, and the Government would have to make sure those people could re-train and acquire new skills.
But she warned: “We cannot afford to fall into the trap of protectionism, or to think that the answer to the extreme speed of technological change or new sources of competition . is to try and put up barriers in Britain or in Europe, because it’s not going to work and, at least equally important, it is wrong in principle.”
The need to be economically competitive was also driving social change in areas such as minority rights, she added.
“That is why diversity in a increasingly important issue: not because of political correctness or anything like that but because . if we’re going to be the best in the world, we’ve got to recruit and keep the best people, whoever they are.”
