Last month the Lords voted to keep the General Duty – a mission statement to work towards the elimination of discrimination – but when the measure went before the Commons last week MPs overturned the decision.
Tomorrow (Monday), peers will vote again on the measure in what has been described as a game of ping-pong between the two Houses of Parliament.
EMLD are urging the Upper House to stick with their original decision. If the Lords reaffirm their committment to the General Duty, known as Section 3 of the 2006 Equality Act – pressure will build for MPs to give in.
The public service union PCS, a large number of equalities organisations and Doreen Lawrence have also been lobbying parliamentarians over the measure which has its’ origins in the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 which emerged from the public inquiry into the death of Stephen Lawrence.
The Lords vote coincides with the 20th anniversary of Stephen’s murder at the hands of a gang of racists in Eltham, south-east London, in 1993.
EMLD argue that the General Duty provides a vision for the kind of society we wish to see as Liberal Democrats and is similar, in many ways, to our own vision statement enshrined in the preamble to the party’s constitution.
Equalities experts say that abolishing the General Duty will leave equalities laws rudderless and that the measure is not ‘red tape’ but an essential tool of modern government.
Here is the letter EMLD have sent to peers:
We are delighted that the House of Lords supported an amendment to retain Section 3 of the 2006 Equality Act, the General Duty of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), but disappointed that the Commons rejected it despite strong support from many MPs.
We hope that the Upper House once again vote in favour of the amendment when it comes before you tomorrow (Monday 22nd April).
This General Equality Duty represents the commitment not just of the EHRC to dedicate itself to the goal of achieving equality in reality but for the whole of Britain’s public services and Government. And the EHRC itself has declared that the General Duty should be retained.
Abolishing this mission statement sends out all the wrong signals about the Coalition’s commitment to tackling discrimination against all sections of society that experience prejudice, racism, sexism, homophobia, age discrimination and so on, and this has a knock-on effect on the reputation of our own party.
As Liberal Democrats we have our own mission statement in the preamble to our party’s constitution. As you know, this informs our philosophy and acts as a guide to our policies. It provides a common purpose and paints a vision for the kind of society we wish to see. Indeed most corporate enterprises also have a mission statement.
Britain’s foremost equalities experts, including Professor Sir Bob Hepple QC, are implacably opposed to the move to abolish the General Equality Duty. He said: “Its’ repeal will deprive those applying the law of interpretative principles and will leave equality law rudderless.”
Other experts say that the General Duty is not red tape but an essential tool of modern government.
We Liberal Democrats supported a strong aspirational General Duty in 2006. We are now told by the ministers that these are “too wide ranging, and creates unrealistic expectations”, and that its’ repeal would make “little difference” to the work of the EHRC. If that is the case why remove it?
There was no opposition to the Section 3 in the House of Commons when it was passed into law. Indeed Eleanor Laing said at the time: “The important thing is that we all admire the aspirational nature of the general duty within it.”
In 2011 Nick Clegg was happy to reassure Jo Swinson that he would “resist the siren calls to water down the Equality Act” by confirming that there would be “no move to dilute incredibly important protections to enshrine and bolster equality in this country under the guise of dealing with unnecessary or intrusive regulation.”
We hope that you will also heed the respondents to the government own consultation on the issue, who said by a ratio of 6:1 that the General Equality Duty should not be repealed.
The General Equality Duty came about a result of hard fought rights following the tragedy of the Stephen Lawrence case and as such it is an important part of the legacy of the fight for justice; a point Doreen Lawrence articulated when she wrote to the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister last November.
As Liberal Democrats we stand for building a fairer society. The proposal by Government before the House on is incompatible with that aspiration.
Let us keep the aspiration to work towards the elimination of discrimination contained within the General Equality Duty and in so doing let us strengthen our claims to be building a fairer society.
Please vote to uphold the Section 3 and the General Equality Duty; not just a mission statement for the EHRC but for the whole of Britain.
Issan Ghazni, Chairperson – Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats