Theresa May sets out to tackle social injustice

MANCHESTER: Prime Minister Theresa May set out her quest to tackle social and racial injustice on Tuesday, hoping to shift the focus of her Conservative party’s annual conference away from rifts over Britain’s exit from the European Union and her leadership.

After a bruising start to the party’s annual meeting in the city of Manchester, May will try to reset the agenda after remarks on Brexit policy by foreign minister Boris Johnson that deepened divisions in her top team of advisers.

She said an audit will be published on Oct. 10 spelling out the “uncomfortable truths” of life in Britain, showing how people of different racial back- grounds are treated in the health, education, employment and the criminal justice system.

Her ministers will also announce policies to try to prove critics wrong and show that her government is working, including measures to toughen sentences of people streaming or browsing extrem- ist material, and to increase nurse training. “In doing this ground-breaking work we are holding a mirror up to our society,” May said in a statement.

“My most fundamental political belief is that how far you go in life should be based on your talent and how hard you work – and nothing else.”

But in early morning broadcast interviews, May was repeatedly asked about her relationship with Johnson after he set out four personal red lines for the Brexit negotiations to unravel more than 40 years of union. “I don’t set red lines,” May told BBC television, describing her cabinet of top ministers as united over Brexit.