Govt ‘has failed on social mobility’
A thinktank has said high spending on benefits and public services has made Britain the “divided society” of Europe.
Reform blames successive governments for maintaining benefits for those without jobs and claims in its report published today a “why bother” economy has been created as a result.
It calculates social mobility has remained static since falls in the 1960s and 1970s, compared to major improvements in other European countries.
And it says public service spending does not make a big difference because it is biased towards the middle classes.
Reform’s consultant director Professor Nick Bosanquet said the government needed to look at “new ways” of improving social mobility “in this much tougher economic environment”.
“Every person failed by the education system and held back by the tax and benefits system means that the economy cannot fulfil its potential,” he said.
Shadow innovation, universities and skills secretary David Willetts said Reform’s report was “spot-on” in identifying the “huge amount of wasted talent in the UK”.
He said prime minister Gordon Brown had “failed to deliver” on his promises of extending opportunity, adding: “University participation is static, part-time students are having their funding cut and it is harder than ever to bring up children. We need a new approach.”
Liberal Democrat skills spokesperson Danny Alexander said the Labour government had “barely made an impression” on the issue in its ten years in power.
“It is a disgrace that in Britain a person’s chances in life are more likely to be determined by their background than anywhere else in Europe,” he said.
“Labour is more interested in creating giant, centralised systems that take power away from people than in empowering them to make the best of their lives.”
