I've not held back on my
criticisms of Labour's madness over the years - but this latest bout of
intellectual and empirical insanity truly has to the worst idea they've ever had
the gall to float in the public domain. In fact, in terms of political policy, I'm
going out on a limb in saying that, from memory, it is probably the worst idea
I've ever heard from politicians - equivalent of wanting to fine unicorns for
stealing flowers from the bottom of the garden.
The latest hair-brained
idea from Labour is to punish firms for not closing gender pay gaps. Apparently,
under a Labour government, and driven by shadow equalities buffoon Dawn Butler,
firms will have to prove they are taking action to close the pay gap or face a
fine.
They will need lots of
luck finding such a thing, because if reality ever does kick in they will discover that there is no gender pay gap. It is illegal to
pay women less than men for doing the same job. The Equal Pay Act of 1970, the
Sex Discrimination Act of 1975, and then later the further codified Equality
Act of 2010 all protect workers from unfair discrimination if their remits are
the same.
What does exist is an
earnings gap - which is a statistical weighted average based on the life
choices men and women make, and the numerous things that comprise the
differences in terms of personalities, aspirations, wants and life choices. An
earnings gap is precisely what you'd expect to see when men and women are free
to make decisions that suit themselves and their families.
So this is both a
non-existent problem, and worse, a non-existent problem that even if it were a
problem would not be the fault of employers, much less something for which they
should be penalised. In what is turning into a
very long list, this is surely the very worst example of half-witted politicians
misdiagnosing a problem, and then positing a truly illiberal, wholly asinine
solution to it.
