Kemi Badenoch today slammed claims that Britain is only rich because of “colonialism and white privilege”.
The Secretary of State for Commerce insisted that the establishment of parliamentary democracy and the rule of law were at the heart of the country’s success.
She also denounced calls for mandatory ethnic quotas in the financial sector, saying her job often involved “killing bad ideas”.
The comments came as Ms Badenoch spoke at the CityUK international conference.
She pointed out that financial services “exploded” after the Glorious Revolution of 1688, when James II was deposed by Parliament and a series of reforms were introduced under Mary II and William of Orange.
Ms Badenoch said ideas that took root in England eventually “spread around the world, sometimes freely, sometimes not, but they ultimately lift billions of people out of poverty and lead to unimaginable wealth globally.” ‘global scale’.
Kemi Badenoch today slammed claims Britain is only rich because of ‘colonialism and white privilege’
“It worries me when I hear people talk about the UK’s wealth and success as being due to colonialism, white imperialism, privilege or whatever,” she added.
“This is important because if people sincerely believe that the UK has only grown and developed into an advanced economy through exploitation and oppression, then the solutions they will find will make our growth and productivity problem even worse.” They will start quoting Mao!
“This is also important in other countries, because if developing countries do not understand how the West became rich, they cannot follow in its footsteps.
“And it matters, when as Trade Secretary I go to the World Trade Organization conference to negotiate on behalf of the UK and some of my counterparts spend all their time in meetings talking about colonialism , blame the West for their economic woes and make demands that make us all poorer, not only in this country but around the world.
Addressing cultural issues in the City, Ms Badenoch said she would write to UK financial regulators to warn them against the proposed mandatory ethnic quotas.
She said the law “does not require” the rules and that they “could be counterproductive.”
“These so-called cultural issues have a bigger impact than we think on the whole situation,” Ms. Badenoch told the audience.
Black, Asian and other ethnic minority staff hold one in ten senior management positions at UK financial institutions, according to a letter sent by major UK investors to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in December.
They were urging the FCA to introduce mandatory reporting on ethnicity pay gaps, which they said was a step towards encouraging more action to create fairer workplaces.
The FCA is currently consulting on proposals to strengthen diversity and inclusion in UK financial services.
Ms Badenoch said she had spoken out against mandatory reporting of salaries by ethnicity “on dozens of occasions”, adding: “People want us to introduce these things, I say no.”
Ms Badenoch pointed out that financial services “exploded” after the Glorious Revolution of 1688, when James II was deposed by Parliament and a series of reforms were introduced under Mary II and William of Orange.
Meanwhile, Ms Badenoch referenced her own experience in banking and consultancy, having worked as a systems analyst at the Royal Bank of Scotland before her political career.
“When I say that the regulatory burden has become too great under successive governments, I am not speaking from theory, but from personal experience,” she said.
The Conservative MP said that this is where her “intense aversion to cumbersome, obscure and often unnecessary regulations” was born.
Ms Badenoch said: “I am concerned about the tendency to advocate well-intentioned but counterproductive measures that stifle growth, productivity and innovation.”
She added: “Regulation has moved from protecting against fraud and systemic failures to everything from diversity to green finance, and this ever-increasing wave of micromanagement will not necessarily make us or the markets stronger financial. »
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