Labour accuses Badenoch of wanting to ‘turn clock back’ with plan to scrap public sector equality duty – UK politics live
Technology secretary says legal requirement that protects women, older people and others from workplace discrimination is ‘really important’ Good morning. For the last week or
Technology secretary says legal requirement that protects women, older people and others from workplace discrimination is ‘really important’ Good morning. For the last week or so much of the media has been dominated by a debate triggered by the murder of Henry Nowak, and claims that video footage of the police handcuffing him as he was dying showed that the police cared more about an accusation of racism than they did about a stabbing.
The judge who presided over the trial of Nowak’s killer did not accept this allegation at all in fact, he defended the police officers involved – but the lack of any evidence to back up this theory has not stopped it being spouted widely, by rightwing politicians and by media organisations that support them. This morning, Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, is giving a speech in part responding to this debate. Reform UK and Restore Britain have been more forceful than the Tories in claiming (despite all the evidence suggesting the opposite) that the police in the UK are biased against white people.
But the Tories have leant into this too, and in her interview on the Today programme this morning Badenoch presented her version of this claim. She said The public sector equality duty is having the worst impact, I believe, when it comes to the police. The Henry Nowak murder has shocked the entire country. What [Badenoch is] saying is she wants to repeal a duty which stops pregnant women being sacked, women on maternity leave being sacked, which prevents discrimination against disabled people, which prevents discrimination on age grounds.
You know, people thinking, ‘Oh, you’re too old for this job, despite all of your experience’. That’s not common-sense middle ground. It’s turning the clock back to the past. Continue reading...
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