Why Badenoch says she wants to get rid of public sector equality duty
Here is an extract, released by CCHQ overnight, from the speech Kemi Badenoch is giving this morning. In it, she explains why she wants to get rid of the public sector equality duty.
There are so many problems [in equalities legislation] to fix. Many of them are currently as a result of the public sector equality duty in the Equality Act.
It is a duty that is subjective … with no clear rules … and whatever its intention … in practice, it has become a minefield that exposes almost every significant public decision to legal challenge.
A court recently found that prison officials had breached their duty because their separation of prisoners was disproportionately affecting Muslims convicted of Islamic terrorism.
These terrorists could now be eligible for compensation.
This is madness.
This duty is compromising security decisions … like isolating dangerous criminals … in case the terrorists call us racists.
Far from equal outcomes … this duty is leading to ludicrous outcomes …
Like the Norfolk constabulary telling a job applicant that because of her ‘gender critical’ views [biological sex is real!] … she would not be ‘suitable’.
The public sector equality duty has turned equality into a zero-sum game where some groups are preferred over others.
And the more public bodies chase equality of outcome … the further they move from equal treatment … and equality under the law.
That’s why I can announce today that a Conservative government will repeal the public sector equality duty in its entirety.
This is not a universal view. As Ben Quinn reports, Mary-Ann Stephenson, the newish chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, wrote her PhD thesis on the PSED and has argued that evidence largely suggests it has positive impact on equality practice in public authorities.
What is the public sector equality duty?
Here is a description of the public sector equality duty from guidance issued by the government to local authorities.
The duty is a statutory duty on listed public authorities and other bodies carrying out public functions. It ensures that those organisations consider how their functions will affect people with different protected characteristics. These functions include their policies, programmes, and services. The duty supports good decision-making by helping decision-makers understand how their activities affect different people. It also requires public bodies to monitor the actual impact of the things they do. For example, to keep under review how different groups of pupils are performing at school and to identify and take action if some pupils with protected characteristics need more support than others.
Reform UK defends its town hall Ukrainian flag bans in response to criticism from Zelenskyy
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the decision by some Reform UK councils to take down the Ukrainian flag was the kind of “small mistake that can break a big friendship”. The Ukrainian president made the comment in an interview with Pippa Crerar and Luke Harding.
In response, Reform UK has defended the flag policy being adopted by some Reform-led councils, saying not flying the Ukrainian flag does not mean the party is not supporting Kyiv in its fight against Russia.
Asked on Newsnight last night if she agreed with Zelenskyy, Laila Cunningham, Reform’s candidate for London mayor, replied:
No, I think we should only have British flags.
Asked why, she replied:
Because we’re a British country. We can’t have flags [for all conflicts]. We’re a British country and our public buildings should have the British flag.
It doesn’t mean that we don’t support Ukraine, in any way.
Labour accuses Badenoch of wanting to ‘turn clock back’ with plan to scrap public sector equality duty
Good morning. For the last week or so much of the media has been dominated by a debate triggered by the murder of Henry Nowak, and claims that video footage of the police handcuffing him as he was dying showed that the police cared more about an accusation of racism than they did about a stabbing. The judge who presided over the trial of Nowak’s killer did not accept this allegation at all – in fact, he defended the police officers involved – but the lack of any evidence to back up this theory has not stopped it being spouted widely, by rightwing politicians and by media organisations that support them.
This morning, Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, is giving a speech in part responding to this debate. Reform UK and Restore Britain have been more forceful than the Tories in claiming (despite all the evidence suggesting the opposite) that the police in the UK are biased against white people. But the Tories have leant into this too, and in her interview on the Today programme this morning Badenoch presented her version of this claim. She said:
The public sector equality duty is having the worst impact, I believe, when it comes to the police.
The Henry Nowak murder has shocked the entire country.
If you look at the police response, their inability to take a stabbing, or an allegation of a stabbing, more seriously than an allegation of racism I think is rooted in the Equality Act and in that principle that if someone says something is racist, then it should be accepted as fact.
In her speech today Badenoch is calling for the public sector equality duty to be scrapped, as part of an overhaul of the Equality Act. Ben Quinn has a preview of the speech here.
We will be covering it in detail this morning.
A lot of the response to the Nowak murder has been wholly opportunist, but that charge does not apply to Badenoch because she has a long record of wanting to roll back equality legislation. As equalities minister in the last government, she was the person who presented the Sewell report to parliament, a highly controversial document downplaying the existence of structural or institutional racism. Experts rubbished the report’s findings, and even in the Conservative party not everyone agreed. But, for Badenoch, it reflected her core belief that identity politics has gone too far. This morning’s speech is an extension of ideas she has been developing for years.
Liz Kendall, the technology secretary, was on the interview round for the government this morning. She said getting rid of the public sector equality duty would “turn the clock back”. She told Sky News:
What [Badenoch is] saying is she wants to repeal a duty which stops pregnant women being sacked, women on maternity leave being sacked, which prevents discrimination against disabled people, which prevents discrimination on age grounds. You know, people thinking, ‘Oh, you’re too old for this job, despite all of your experience’.
That’s not common-sense middle ground. It’s turning the clock back to the past.
So, she needs to spell out which elements of that she’s going to withdraw, which I think are really, really important.
Because, look, our public services and our companies need to draw on all of the talents of the British people if they’re going to succeed, that is what the public sector equality duty is all about.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: Keir Starmer chairs cabinet.
10am: Kemi Badenoch gives a speech on Conservative plans to overhaul the Equality Act.
Morning: David Lammy, the justice secretary and deputy PM, is unveiling plans to use AI in courts.
11.30am: James Murray, the new health secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
Noon: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
2.30pm: Mary-Ann Stephenson, chair of the Equality and Human Rights Committee, gives evidence to the Commons women and equalities committee.
3.15pm: Alex Norris, the minister for border security and asylum, gives evidence to the Commons home affairs committee about asylum accommodation.
3.30pm: John Healey, the defence secretary, gives a speech to the GMB conference.
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