Equality Bill

My Lords, given the wide-ranging nature of the Bill, I think that I have to declare all my interests as set out in the Register, because, quite rightly, this Bill should reach every part of our lives. This is an important Bill on a complex and emotive subject and your Lordships’ contributions to the debate have been suitably thorough, thoughtful and heartfelt. There is no doubting the passion and determination all around the House—I think in particular of the noble Baroness, Lady Campbell, and the noble Lord, Lord Alli. I am pleased to be able to contribute to the first stage of what I hope will be a more detailed and lengthy consideration of the Bill than was possible in the other place. The noble Baroness, Lady Northover, said that my noble friend Lady Warsi did not seem to spell out our views in any positive way. My noble friend said that we want to achieve a workable piece of legislation. I do not think that anyone can doubt her commitment to equality, because anyone who knows her knows her commitment. I join those who have welcomed the general principles of the Bill and I thank the noble Baroness the Leader of the House for her sensitive and thoughtful introduction. The fact that there is much for us on this side to welcome should not be too surprising. The majority of the Bill’s provisions are, after all, concerned with consolidating existing pieces of equal rights legislation, which were passed with a large amount of cross-party support and, in several cases, under Conservative Governments. I think that we should take a moment to pay tribute to those of all parties who pioneered the measures that form the backbone of this new Bill and who, in doing so, made a real difference to the lives of millions of people over the years. The list of repeals at Schedule 27 to the Bill is a roll-call of 40 years of social progress in this country: from the Equal Pay Act 1970 and the Sex Discrimination Acts of 1975 and 1986 via the Race Relations Act 1976 to the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. We can on all sides of this House feel proud that those Acts are on the statute book and it is right that we record that fact as we discuss replacing them. Equality and fairness are objectives to which almost all of us aspire in today’s society. There are very few people whose views are genuinely bigoted or who would defend deliberate discrimination against people on the grounds of race, disability, gender or sexual orientation. However, there remain otherwise decent people who express frustration at what they perceive to be special treatment or preferment in favour of one group or another in society. I was pleased that the Leader of the House said that this Bill does not give preferment to one group. Much indirect discrimination and negative attitude can be traced to this unease and, when addressing inequality, we must be constantly wary not to take measures that risk fostering more resentment. The Minister for Women in another place made much of the traditional Labour commitment to equality, so I hope that I may be permitted to say that such a commitment has also played a prominent part in my party’s history over the years. I have, I think, mentioned before in your Lordships’ House a favourite election poster of mine from the mid-1990s, which featured in John Major’s handwriting the message "Opportunity for All". That, for me, summed up a simple but fundamentally Conservative commitment to true equality: not a fruitless search for equality of outcome or a pretence that we are all the same, but the belief that we should all, whatever our background, gender, race, sexual orientation or disability, have access to the same opportunities to get on in life and that we should all be treated in accordance with who we are. I think that the noble Lord, Lord Alli, said that we should be judged on who we are. That message is made more, not less, important by the current economic climate. It is in the interests of a productive economy that we should not allow anyone’s talent to go to waste, a theme articulated by the noble Lord, Lord Adebowale. We are all in this together, as someone wisely said. However, as we all know, the subject often has its controversy. That is true of this Bill as well. We on this side may applaud the Bill’s broad objectives but we cannot help but feel that, in its detail, it contains some ill conceived measures which make it difficult for us to give it the wholehearted support that we would wish to. That is why we tabled a reasoned amendment in another place and why we continue to seek amendments to parts of the Bill. Many people are sceptical of attempts by the state to bring about a better society through legislation. They are right to be. We have no magic wand. Increasingly, however, it seems that Ministers are waving around the legislative equivalent of a magic wand. It is against this background that we view the first part of the Bill, with its duty on public bodies to help to reduce socio-economic inequality. This is a worthy objective, but not one that is necessarily within their competence to achieve, even with the promise of guidance from Ministers. On this side, we sincerely agree with the need to reduce such inequalities. We are, however, complacent or naive if we think that an edict from this place will achieve that. The first part is, therefore, at best ineffective and at worst a damaging distraction from what should be this Bill’s main purpose. Although we cannot conjure up equality, we can enact measures that restrict unfair discrimination and unacceptable practices. That is a proper role for legislation. On that subject, I commend my noble friend Lady Miller of Hendon for her wonderfully entertaining speech—vintage Lady Miller—and the noble Baroness, Lady Deech, for highlighting yesterday the discrimination that exists here in your Lordships’ House over the different treatment of our spouses. Although yesterday the issue raised a smile or two—and it is not the most pressing inequality facing society—it hardly sends the right message. We should reflect on that in the context of this Bill. Eliminating unfair practices does not mean, nor should it mean, ignoring differences. As the most reverend Primate the Archbishop of York said, you do not get equality by concealing difference. The richness of our society is its diversity and that is undoubtedly a good thing. The question is how we ensure that such differences are respected and not used to discriminate unfairly. My noble friend Lady Cumberlege talked about accommodating difference. In relation to gender, where would we be without differences in the sexes? Certainly not here is the biological answer. In an amusing section of her speech, the noble Baroness, Lady Royall, told us exactly what the Bill was not about. I, too, should like to address a concern that was expressed to me and illustrates a point. This Bill will not require "Top Gear" to have a woman presenter or "Loose Women" to have a man. The appeal of these programmes is not restricted wholly to men or women, even though their formats are based primarily on assumptions of differing interests. Should we be legislating for their presenting teams to be evenly balanced? Would we want to see Jeremy Clarkson swapping relationship advice with Coleen Nolan, while Lynda Bellingham demolished a caravan with James May?