#BuildBackBetter coalition launched
Posted on 10 Jul 2020 Categories: Blog, Coronavirus, News Related Tags: #BuildBackBetter
by Gemma Lawrence
The #BuildBackBetter coalition, which consists of 350 organisations from business, trade unions and civil society, was launched on 29 June. On its website it is described as ‘a platform for everyone who wants us to come out of this crisis a stronger, fairer, greener country’.
The ‘broad and diverse coalition’ is
‘calling for a new settlement that protects vital public services, repairs inequalities, creates secure and rewarding jobs, and prepares us for the climate and environmental emergency’.
The website states its ‘three broad objectives’:
- To create a space for those who want to #BuildBackBetter to congregate and publicise their activities
- ‘To help shape what building back better looks like’
- To create pressure for change.
It explores the lessons the pandemic has taught us. The pandemic has exposed that our health and social care systems are dangerously under-resourced. It has highlighted that our key workers are often the ‘least valued and lowest-paid’. It has exacerbated the UK’s longstanding inequalities and shown that we cannot ‘stand alone in the face of common threats’.
The website also draws on ‘new sources of hope’. We have seen the government spend at speed and at scale; communities have responded with ‘care, neighbourliness and mutual support’. ‘Clean air and a concern for wellbeing can inspire more sustainable and enjoyable ways of living’, and we have seen the power of working with other countries to find common solutions.
The #BuildBackBetter coalition concludes that this
‘is a challenge to us all; to governments, businesses, trade unions, civil society and citizens. But it is a challenge to which, together, we can rise.’
Co-sign their statement here.
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Posted on 10 Jul 2020 Categories: Blog, Coronavirus, News Related Tags: #BuildBackBetter