The government's
Equality Bill passed its second reading in the
House of Commons yesterday despite the opposition of the
Conservative frontbench.
The legislation includes measures to outlaw discrimination
against older people in the provision of goods and services, oblige
public bodies to tackle socio-economic inequalities and protect
carers by outlawing discrimination against people associated with
an older or disabled person.
Tories defeated on vote
A Tory motion rejecting the bill was defeated by 322 votes to
139 and the legislation will now be considered in more detail by a
parliamentary committee.
Conservative shadow work and pensions secretary Theresa May said
the party supported moves to tackle inequality and discrimination
but the bill's "good intentions have been muddled by
ill-thought-out and, frankly, unworkable proposals".
She particularly cited the proposed duty on public bodies to
tackle socio-economic inequalities, which she said would achieve
nothing and involved ministers "ducking the issue" of narrowing the
gap between rich and poor by pushing responsibility onto local
authorities.
Bercow backs duty to narrow class divide
But her party colleague John Bercow defended the
measure, saying it could help improve social mobility, for instance
by promoting measures to get poorer children into good schools.
However, supporters of the bill also criticised the government
on various counts, including for failing to include provisions to
outlaw a mandatory retirement age, which currently allows employers
to force people to retire at 65.
Action urged on disability definition
Labour MP Roger Berry, secretary of the
all-party parliamentary group on disability, urged the government
to amend the bill to extend protection against discrimination to
more disabled people.
Currently, people have to show they have an impairment that has
a long-term - lasting at least 12 months - substantial and adverse
impact on their ability to carry out day-to-day activities, to gain
protection under the Disability Discrimination Act.
Berry added: "That is too restrictive a definition and I hope
that the government will at least consider reducing the time to six
months."
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More information
The Equality Bill