Badenoch to vow to scrap public sector equality duty in effort to fend off Reform | Kemi Badenoch
Kemi Badenoch will present her party as responsible but also in line with populist anger, promising to lift the onus on public bodies to consider how they can support equality as Reform looks to meet challenges from the UK.
Badenoch, who was Conservative minister for equality between 2020 and 2022, will commit to scrapping the public sector equality duty (PSED), a legal requirement that forces these bodies to consider how they can improve society and promote equality in their day-to-day work.
The Conservative Party leader will claim in his speech on Tuesday that “dangerous and divisive agendas” are being advanced through the use of this key part of the Equality Act, which affects public institutions from the police to the Bank of England.
The move, part of his campaign against what he calls “identity politics”, is an attempt to position his party between Labor, which he accuses of wanting more “DEI bureaucracy”, and Reform, which has vowed to scrap the Equality Act altogether.
“From the Bank of England removing Winston Churchill from banknotes to police training telling officers not to treat people the same way, public institutions are using PSED to advance dangerous and divisive agendas,” the Conservatives said in a press release before Badenoch’s speech in London.
His criticism of the bank referred to an announcement earlier this year that historical figures on banknotes would be replaced with animals, birds and insects, a move that drew condemnation from Badenoch, Reform and others on the right.
The bank said the driving force behind this decision was a public consultation where people were asked what they would like to see in the new notes. Historical figures ranked third after nature, architecture and landmarks.
Political tensions have been high for a week as violence broke out on the streets of Southampton following the murder of 18-year-old student Henry Nowak. Nowak was handcuffed as she bled to death after being stabbed and falsely accused of racism by the man who was later jailed for killing her. Downing Street has rejected the Trump administration’s claims that there is “two tiers of policing” in the UK.
Shadow equals minister Claire Coutinho said: “We need to remove identity politics from public life and bring back common sense, fairness and equality before the law.
“Our public services must focus on doing their jobs and keeping the public safe, rather than being caught up in radical ideologies and promoting diversity and inclusion training which does more harm than good.”
Scrapping PSED will be opposed by groups and individuals in society because of its implications for a range of areas related not only to race but to gender, disability, religion and pregnancy.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHCR) website links PSED to the obligation of public bodies to end it. Illegal behavior prohibited by the Equality Act 2010including discrimination, harassment and victimization. The new chairman of the commission wrote his doctoral thesis on PSED and argued This evidence largely suggests that this has a positive impact on equality practices in public authorities.
Badenoch announced the creation of a “culture and integration commission” in March, which included an overhaul of the Equality Act. The study is supported by lawyer Andrew Dinsmore, whose recommendation to repeal the PSED will be published on Tuesday. The Conservatives compare this to Reformation’s promise to repeal the Equality Act, which the Conservatives claim would “open the door to more DEI”.
Badenoch sought to differentiate himself from Nigel Farage’s call for “pure cold anger” in response to Nowak’s killing last week, with the Tory leader thanked for his “tone” by Keir Starmer. But he also used a Article in Daily Mail claiming that police actions were partly the fault of identity politics as a result of the Black Lives Matter movement.
EHCR, which enforces the Equality Act, said: “PSED does not prevent these organizations from doing the work that the public expects them to do.
“Most people take this seriously and use PSED’s requirements to design the best possible services for everyone.
“It is there to help them make good decisions, based on an understanding of the impact those decisions have on everyone they impact,” a spokesperson said.
