The Conservative Party has attacked reported government plans to overhaul equalities policy, arguing that white working-class boys "don't need another Labour quango lecturing them" about identity and privilege. Equalities minister Bridget Phillipson is expected to elevate social class to the same status as sex, race and disability within equalities law, marking a significant expansion of the characteristics protected or prioritised under the Government's equality agenda.

The reforms would create a new Whitehall unit within the Office for Equality and Opportunity, imposing a legally binding "socio-economic duty" requiring public bodies to consider how to improve outcomes for lower-income families and reshape how deprivation is assessed. The existing Social Mobility Commission, established in 2010, is expected to be scrapped, with some of its staff transferring to the new body, which a government source described as a "centre of excellence" for data on class and public service outcomes. Shadow equalities minister Joy Morrissey condemned the move as bureaucratic and divisive, pledging that the Conservatives would abolish the duty and prioritise meritocracy instead.