Equality Bill

I am grateful to everyone who has spoken. In particular, I am grateful to my noble and gallant friend Lord Craig of Radley for the collegiate way in which he expressed his opposition to my amendment. We remain in mutual respect of one another, but in mutual disagreement. I did not expect the Government to roll over and accept the amendment. The Minister’s response was fairly predictable. I have heard it several times before. The Ministry of Defence may keep the matter under review, but its response does not change. It has not changed for the past 10 years and I do not expect it to change in a hurry. However, like the noble Lord, Lord Lester, I predict that it will have to change one of these days, just as the responses of the police, prison and fire services have had to bow to the onward march of our concern for equality in this society. The noble Baroness said that the stance of the British Government is consistent with EU law. That is perfectly true, in that the European Union permits an exemption in respect of service in the Armed Forces as regards disability. The UK just happens to be isolated and alone as the only country within the EU that has felt the need to avail itself of such an exemption. I shall try to be a little conciliatory. It is disappointing that the Government have not felt able to be a little more flexible, given that we framed the amendment in such a way as to give the Armed Forces a get-out, an exception, in cases where excluding disabled people was a proportionate response in the interests of combat effectiveness. However, there we are—the Government have not felt able to go that far tonight. When we on the task force discussed these matters with the Ministry of Defence, I suggested that if the MoD were to relax the blanket ban, perhaps a code of practice could be designed in such a way as to cater for the concerns of the service chiefs. I respectfully repeat that suggestion to the Government. I am sorry that it has not been followed up since we discussed it on the task force.