Equality Bill

I am still puzzled, given that in 2004 the Government successfully defended the compatibility of the regulations in European law against a challenge from Amicus in the High Court. The judgment was given on 26 April 2004, paragraphs 88 to 128. Noble Lords are entitled to some explanation as to why the unpublished opinion of officials reached in private in Brussels is to be preferred—that is my view—to the Government’s own previous view that was sustained by a High Court judge after all the arguments had been tested in open court and a judgment produced running to some 58 pages. In the High Court, Her Majesty’s Government had argued that it would not be right for courts or tribunals to make judgments about questions of doctrine. Her Majesty’s Government were right to take the view in 2003, and there is no good reason for them to take a different view now that they have the High Court judgment on their side. So why are Her Majesty’s Government now dissatisfied with their own very recent handiwork? Where are the examples of actual abuses that have caused difficulties? Where are the court rulings that have shown that the law, as it is, is defective? As they say, "If it ain’t broke, why fix it"? The truth is that there are none because the status quo has been working perfectly satisfactorily. The earlier balances were struck by Parliament very carefully. The right course is to leave them exactly as they are. That is what Amendments 98, 99 and 100 will achieve. Her Majesty’s Government’s Amendment 99A would introduce fresh legal uncertainty with unnecessary arguments over whether "exists…to" means that promoting, representing or explaining has to be the defining characteristic of a job, rather than simply one of its necessary components. Noble Lords know where I am going; principles matter and drafting also matters. For this reason, I support the amendments of the noble Baroness, Lady O’Cathain.