British firms not swayed by US push to scrap diversity goals, says minister

The UK’s employment rights minister has said he does not expect British businesses to follow the lead of US rivals scrapping diversity goals despite concerns following Donald Trump’s presidency in the US.

Labour MP Justin Madders said UK firms have their “own approach” to equality, amid pressure from the American government to scale back initiatives.

“There’s obviously an extra level of dialogue going on in terms of internal company discussions but I think the commitment and the benefits are very clearly laid out and I don’t see UK companies going down that road,” he told the PA news agency.

Several large businesses in the US, including Google, Meta, Amazon and McDonald’s, have scaled back their diversity programmes following Mr Trump’s presidential election victory.

Mr Trump signed a flurry of executive orders after being sworn in last month, including dialling back transgender protections and ending federal government diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes.

But on Tuesday, Apple shareholders rejected a proposal calling on the technology giant to join Mr Trump’s push to abandon programmes designed to diversify workforces.

Meanwhile, in the UK, Deloitte told its staff that it was “committed to our diversity goals” following reports of a changing focus in the US, while the boss of Barclays said the bank had an “unwavering” commitment to inclusion despite changes happening overseas.

Mr Madders said it was clear that British companies “understand and appreciate the value of a broad, diverse leadership team, and there’s a great deal of commitment to carrying on with this”.

He added that firms “may have conversations with people over the pond but I don’t think it any way detracts from the strength of the argument that they’ve got” when it comes to inclusion.

The Government has introduced an Employment Rights Bill which aims to tighten workers’ protections including for pregnant women and new mothers, and to make flexible working the default.

However, new starters will be subject to a nine-month statutory probation period, after businesses raised concerns that “day 1” protections from unfair dismissal meant workers would be able to sue their employer on the first day of the job.

Mr Madders told PA: “We recognise there is that period where new employees need to be tried out, and actually there’s an awful lot more that we’re going to be doing in terms of how that process will work, because we want to make it more workable and effective.”