G7: Boris Johnson Kicks Off Summit With Plea To Tackle Inequality

Boris Johnson has urged fellow world leaders to “build back better” after the COVID-19 pandemic at this week’s G7 summit in Cornwall.

The UK prime minister said it was vital to learn from the “mistakes” of the 2008 financial crisis and tackle the “scar” of inequality.

After a day of talks at the seaside resort of Carbis Bay, leaders have joined the Queen for a dinner nearby.

The distribution of Covid vaccines is also high on the summit agenda.

Earlier, the leaders posed for a group photo with the Queen, where the monarch was heard to joke: “Are you supposed to be looking as if you’re enjoying yourself?”

The leaders around the Queen laughed, and Mr Johnson replied emphatically: “Yes.”

The prime minister added: “We have been enjoying ourselves – in spite of appearances.”

US President Joe Biden is among those being hosted by Mr Johnson for the three-day meeting, as well the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada.

It is the first face-to-face summit of the G7 – representing most of the world’s biggest economies – since before the pandemic started early last year.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel are also attending.

In his opening remarks at the main round-table discussions, Mr Johnson said that, as the world recovered from the pandemic, it was important to “level up across our societies” and “build back better”.

He added: “I actually think that we have a huge opportunity to that because, as G7, we are united in our vision for a cleaner, greener world, a solution to the problems of climate change.”

The prime minister also said it was “vital that we don’t repeat the mistakes of the last great crisis – the last great economic recession of 2008 – when the recovery was not uniform across all parts of society”.

Politicians are attending a Friday evening reception at the nearby Eden Project, attended by the Queen, the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

The UK government announced it was giving £430m in aid to the Global Partnership for Education, to help the world’s “most vulnerable children” get better schooling, with a “particular” focus on girls.

It was important for the world economy to rebuild in a “more equal and… in a more gender-neutral and perhaps a more feminine way” after the huge damage caused by coronavirus, Mr Johnson told his fellow leaders.

As camera crews and photographers left the meeting room at the Carbis Bay Hotel, he joked that what had been intended as a “fireside chat” had turned into a “media circus”.