Equality Bill

I should like to say what a pleasure it was to hear the noble Lord, Lord Lester, setting out as clearly as ever these very important matters and how they should be brought up to date. In particular, he made a very strong case for Amendment 74. I hope that the whole area of direct discrimination and indirect discrimination, which seemed to rule our lives in the early years at the Equal Opportunities Commission, when I was very happy to be the deputy chairman, has moved on and that it has been helped by European law. Let us make certain that we take advantage of this Bill to do just that. I am only rather sorry that the noble Lord, Lord Lester, has decided to move back from the area that he is not quite certain about. Now would seem to be the time to tighten up this area, not least when we have a very receptive Government, who seem to be extremely keen to help and accommodate as many as possible of the amendments that we are trying to put forward.