Starmer brands Reform plan to scrap Equality Act ‘anti-British’

Sir Keir Starmer has condemned Reform UK’s pledge to abolish the Equality Act as “shocking” and “anti-British”.

The Labour leader warned that if a future Reform government were to scrap the 2010 law, it could lead to women facing overt discrimination.

Sir Keir said that such a move would directly contravene British values, including tolerance and compassion. He added that he “shuddered to think” what women would make of the proposed policy.

The pledge was announced on Tuesday by Reform UK’s new equalities spokeswoman, Suella Braverman.

The Equality Act was one of the last significant pieces of legislation enacted by Gordon Brown’s Labour government more than 15 years ago.

In response to Sir Keir’s criticism, Robert Jenrick, Reform UK’s new Treasury spokesman, countered by stating he did not believe “anybody had benefitted from the Act”. Mr Jenrick instead highlighted earlier legislative frameworks that have historically provided protection against discrimination based on race and gender.

In an interview with BBC Breakfast, Sir Keir said: “Can I just say how shocking it is that Reform are suggesting that we tear up the Equality Act? This is decades of protection and it goes basic values, one of which is, should women be treated equally with men.

“That is core, that is British, that is something which was fought for, the right for women to be treated equally with men.

“For Reform to say ‘no more’ it’ll now, under their watch, be alright to go back to the old days where women were not treated equally, I shudder to think what any of the women watching this would think of someone who says I want to rip up the proposition that women should be treated equally with men.”

In her speech after she was appointed in her new brief, Mrs Braverman said repealing the Equality Act would lead to a country “defined by meritocracy not tokenism” as she said the current law created division and “victimhood”.

She said: “Scrapping the Equality Act means getting rid of the pernicious, divisive notion of protected characteristics.”

However, Sir Keir praised the importance of the existing law, as he warned about the impact on race relations. He said: “To take another example, that you should be treated equally regardless of your race. We know where all this was years ago in this country, we know the battles that were fought, many of them by the Labour Party to get proper equality.

“We know the examples of landlords who used to have signs on the door about who could stay in their property or not.

“This goes to the heart of core values and I think it actually rips up something that goes to who we are as a country, because I believe passionately, that to be tolerant, compassionate and diverse is what it is to be British and this tears that up, and I would genuinely like to see anyone from Reform try to defend the proposition that women should not be treated equally with men.”

Mr Jenrick said Sir Keir’s belief that scrapping the Equality Act would roll back protections was “complete nonsense”.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, he said: “He’s on the brink and so he’s deliberately misrepresenting the Reform policy.

“We of course want to see the protections that have been put in place over the years maintained, like the Equal Pay Act that ensured that women received the same pay as men in the workplace, or the Race Equality Act, or the Disability Discrimination Act, pieces of legislation that made our country a fairer place.

“What we disagree with, as millions of people do across the country, was the very harmful piece of legislation that was put in place, again, by a dying government … which has created perverse situations in this country.”

He was asked whether the 2010 Act had protected anybody.

“I don’t think that’s right,” Mr Jenrick replied. “I don’t on balance think that’s correct. No, there’s been a series of laws in the decades before that, very important landmark legislation that we should be proud of as a country … which each in turn addressed very significant injustices in our country and began a process to shift public opinion, the attitudes of Government, and business and others in the right direction.”

On Wednesday, the party’s leader Nigel Farage told journalists that middle-aged white men were losing jobs and blamed the Equality Act.

Mr Farage said: “That’s the problem, that actually something that was designed to stop discrimination becomes in itself discriminatory.”