We are not a meritocracy and there is no social mobility. Dominic Raab takes a beating from Owen Jones on the Daily Politics (video)

Yesterday our government produced its annual fig leaf for the UK’s all but non-existent social mobility. As ever, it made positive noises about how the UK should be and largely is a “meritocracy”. This inevitably followed a damning report into how social mobility has been static or gone into reverse because of the coalition’s policies.

Social mobility?

The widely reported publication of the latest forecasts for the level of child poverty in the UK concluded that we will miss the 2020 legal target to eliminate it and that it will probably be higher at 3.5 million households than it is today.  In response, Dominic Raab was rolled-out to publicise his report into meritocracy and social mobility. Unsurprisingly, given Raab’s (very) right of centre views, his ‘plan’ is to entrench the old approaches as the way forward.

Modified Video © imincorrigible
Original Audio/Video © BBC / Comedy Central

So his headline grabber is more free places for children of families with lower incomes in private schools and a continuation of unpaid internships for those who can afford to live off of the bank of mum and dad. Typically for a Tory report, facts and figures are largely absent from Raab’s exposition (at least during his appearance on the Daily Politics) and that is one of a number of reasons why he receives a drubbing from the always switched-on Owen Jones.

Old Etonian’s David Cameron and Boris Johnson pose for their Oxford University Bullingdon Club photo

 

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