Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
Andy Burnham had a chance to choose a different path from his predecessor – but after announcing his new Cabinet picks, the Prime Minister seems set on making all the same mistakes.
Burnham promised a reset, yet with the decision to keep Bridget Phillipson as Minister for Women and Equalities, and Shabana Mahmood as Home Secretary, the cruelty of Starmer’s government will continue.
Over the last two years, our research has shown increasing numbers of trans people being challenged and threatened in public spaces, and forcibly outed at work. This is the legacy of Starmer’s government – and Phillipson specifically – who have implemented a ban on trans people accessing public spaces and services we have been using for decades, encouraged a new era of gender policing, and delivered school guidance for England and Wales that is reminiscent of Section 28. Their failure to protect human rights, and demonisation of migrants and asylum seekers, drew international condemnation and has left the UK as an outlier on LGBTQ+ progress.
With the architects of that misery remaining in post, Burnham seems unwilling to address the serious failures of the previous government. With ministers in place like Phillipson, who have lost the trust of those they are supposed to protect, a new direction that would restore equalities to a sound footing can only come from the very top of government.
If Burnham really wants a fresh start, he can begin by speaking with the trans community and rejecting the regressive anti-rights posturing of the government that came before. Otherwise all his talk of a reset in government will mean nothing at all.