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Truss branded ‘out of touch’ for saying poorer women hardly affected by austerity

CHIEF secretary to the Treasury Liz Truss was branded “out of touch” today following her comments that austerity hasn’t particularly affected poorer women.    

Shadow minister for women and equalities Dawn Butler slammed Ms Truss’s comments that were made at the Women Rule conference on Wednesday night in London, saying that in fact women have “borne the brunt” of Tory austerity.

Ms Truss, in response to a question on the ways austerity affected poorer women, claimed that women benefited from the “modern economy” because 66 per cent of Airbnb’s are rented by women.

But Ms Butler said that 86 per cent of Conservative austerity, which Ms Truss has supported, “has fallen on women’s shoulders, with black and minority ethnic women, disabled women and single mothers hit the hardest.”

Last year, research carried out by the House of Commons library revealed that women were paying a high price for tax and benefit changes between 2010-17.

The analysis estimated that the cuts will have cost women a total of £79 billion, while £13bn would have fallen on men’s shoulders.

It means that by 2020 men will have borne just 14 per cent of the total burden of welfare cuts, compared with 86 per cent for women.

“The fact that Liz Truss is more interested in Airbnb usage shows how out of touch this government is,” Ms Butler added.

Labour MP Thelma Walker added that Ms Truss was “out of touch and out of compassion.“

According to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 20 per cent of women were in poverty in January compared with 18 per cent of men.

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