UK should broaden G7 targets on long-term unemployment, gender and race

Civil society groups have called on the UK government to have more ambitious targets on tackling long-term unemployment and closing the gap of inequality in gender and race ahead of the G7 summit in Cornwall next week.

In a letter to the Prime Minister Boris Johnson, groups representing unions, women, ethnic minorities, developing world nations and young people said he should focus on avoiding repeating the mistakes that followed the 2008 financial crash.

According to the Guardian, the letter said that the government should not allow austerity to once again be the dominant theme and take action to improve living standards and address the climate emergency.

The letter read: "This isn’t the time for leadership in name only: an era-defining crisis requires era-defining leadership.

"We must match the most ambitious proposals in the G7 and set out concrete and coordinated plans to deliver better jobs in a move away from insecure and non-standard work, including in the platform economy.

"And we must show how these plans will tackle gender and racial inequalities and provide support to the young people hit hardest by the crisis, in the G7 and internationally."

The TUC leader, Frances O’Grady, was among the signatories along with Jessica Woodroffe, the director of the Gender and Development Network, Simon Starling, the director of policy, advocacy and research at the development charity Bond UK, and Sophie Daud, the chief executive of the Future Leaders Network.

Johnson has said he wants "to unite leading democracies to help the world fight and then build back better from coronavirus and create a greener, more prosperous future," but until now has focused his efforts on sealing a global digital tax deal.

US President Joe Biden told G7 leaders that he wants to strike ambitious agreements regarding jobs and growth and climate change at the summit.