Esther McVey vs the diversitycrats
by ElliotKeck, spiked:
The ‘minister for common sense’ is right to take on wokeness in the civil service.
Be grateful for Esther McVey, the UK government’s ‘minister for common sense’ since November. It may feel a little late, but McVey has declared war on wokeness in government – and it’s gratifying to see a minister take on this divisive ideology.
McVey, whose proper title is minister without portfolio, has announced that she plans to put a stop to equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) bureaucracy in the civil service. Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, she promises that ‘there will be no more dedicated (or standalone) EDI jobs in the civil service outside of HR… no more staff dedicating 100 per cent of their time to EDI work’.
[…] Research we conducted at the Taxpayers’ Alliance has uncovered that millions of pounds are being spent on these woke excesses. In 2022, the civil service splashed out £300,000 on networks dedicated to such characteristics as ‘neurodivergence’, ‘LGBT+’ and ‘LGBT+ Allies’. Thousands of hours of Whitehall time have been wasted on events hosted by these networks, including talks on ‘being queer and living your truth’ and ‘she / they breakfast’ events. Around £200,000 was spent on gender-neutral toilets for staff in 2022. And that’s just within the civil service.
Herein lies the real problem. As laudable as McVey’s announcement is, it only scratches the surface. This culture has spread well beyond Westminster. Woke ideology is deeply entrenched in quangos, councils, NHS trusts, fire services and police forces. Last year, these various organs of the state spent over £500,000 on Pride month alone. What did taxpayers get in return? Well, the state is now the proud owner of hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of LGBT-themed merchandise, including flags, selfie frames, glitter tattoos, lanyards, face paints and tablecloths. Wolverhampton Council purchased three kilometres of rainbow bunting.
This raises an important question. If EDI roles and initiatives are bad for Whitehall and the civil service, why do we need them in the NHS, councils and the rest? Town halls have spent £52million on EDI jobs in the past three years alone. Within the NHS, 111 trusts spent £13million between them on EDI roles.
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