Kemi Badenoch will pledge to scrap the legal duty on public bodies to consider promoting equality, claiming the rules have been used to advance “dangerous and divisive agendas” and left institutions “institutionally incompetent”.
The Conservative leader’s announcement comes a week after violence erupted on the streets of Southampton following the murder of 18-year-old student Henry Nowak. The police response to Nowak’s death, in which he was handcuffed while bleeding to death after being stabbed and falsely accused of racism by his killer, fuelled questions about equality policies and laws.
“Kemi Badenoch vows to scrap public sector equality duty, claiming it has made institutions 'institutionally incompetent'”
In a speech on Tuesday, Badenoch will commit to repealing the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED), a legal requirement for bodies including schools, hospitals and the police to have “due regard” to eliminating unlawful discrimination and advancing equality of opportunity. She said the duty, part of the Equality Act, had resulted in some groups being “preferred over others”.
“We do not need to replace the duty, we need to explain to people that they should do their jobs,” Badenoch said. She also said equality law “properly designed should protect us all in the same way” and “should be a shield, not a sword”, but argued the understanding was being “perverted”.
The Tory leader pointed to what she described as “modern Britain is the least racist country on Earth”, adding: “It is because we are not racist, because we care so much about equality that we have overcorrected and actually brought in rules that are actually discriminatory.”
The move is an attempt to position her party between Labour, which has strengthened equality protections, and Reform UK, which wants to scrap the Equality Act entirely. The Conservatives described it as the first step in a programme to “restore common sense”.
Badenoch, who served as minister for equalities between 2020 and 2022, acknowledged she did not ask for the PSED to be removed while in government, saying she “kept trying to explain to people how to make sure they complied with the law in the Equality Act”.
Claire Coutinho, the shadow minister for equalities, said: “We need to take identity politics out of public life and bring back common sense, fairness and equality before the law. Our public services should be focused on doing their jobs.”
The Conservatives criticised the Bank of England for “taking Winston Churchill off banknotes”, a move the Bank said was driven by a public consultation in which historical figures came third behind nature and architecture.
Labour has promised a new strategy with a primary focus on getting working-class people joining and progressing in the civil service.