Labour is taking the fight to Trumpian critics of diversity and equality, with the tech secretary vowing to “smash the glass ceilings” holding women and people of colour in the tech industry back.
With Reform UK threatening to sack diversity officers in councils across the country, Liz Kendall is taking the fight to Nigel Farage and ramping up the government’s efforts to boost representation.
On current trends, it would take 283 years for women to make up an equal share of the tech workforce, according to the BCS Chartered Institute for IT.
Meanwhile 92 per cent of start-up investment from wealthy individuals went to all-white teams, according to the British Business Bank Investing in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurs.
The government believes the British economy would receive a £250bn boost if women started and scaled companies at the same rate as men.
Ms Kendall on Monday will say “a more inclusive economy is better for people and better for growth”.
“We will tear down the barriers to success so more women, more people of colour and more people from working-class backgrounds can bring their talent and ambition to this exciting sector,” she will tell Labour’s conference in Liverpool.
The intervention is a direct rebuke to the politics of Mr Farage and Reform, who have railed against the equality agenda and vowed to scrap government funding for diversity schemes.
Lincolnshire’s Reform mayor Dame Andrea Jenkyns was humiliated when she vowed to sack all of the authority’s diversity officers before it emerged the council does not employ any.
As part of Reform’s war on woke, it has vowed a Trump-style Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) to audit government spending and crack down on waste, including diversity schemes.
Ms Kendall will also promise a Women’s Tech Taskforce, with industry experts to support female employees in tech.
“Britain’s future shouldn’t just be shaped by the Tech Bros in Silicon Valley but our Tech Sisters here in the UK,” she will say.
The panel will include BT Group chief executive Allison Kirkby and Stemettes boss Anne-Marie Imafidon.
The party’s decision to directly back a diversity initiative comes as Labour increasingly seeks to take the fight to Mr Farage’s insurgent party, which has been comfortably leading in the polls since April.
Sir Keir Starmer on Sunday attacked Mr Farage’s recently announced immigration plan as “racist” and said the battle between Labour and Reform is “a fight about who we are as a country, it goes to the soul of our future”.
Supporting Ms Kendall’s plan, Ms Kirkby said: “Talent is everywhere, but opportunity isn’t – and initiatives like this matter, for all of us.”
And Ms Imafidon added: “Having powerful conversations at one of the highest levels of government means we can finally tackle the structural barriers that still prevent talented people from thriving in tech.”
