Kemi Badenoch will vow to scrap the duty on public bodies to consider how they can promote equality as she seeks to head off the challenge from Reform UK by presenting her party as responsible but also in tune with populist anger.<\/p>\n
Badenoch, who was Conservative minister for equalities between 2020 and 2022, will commit to scrapping the public sector equality duty (PSED), a legal requirement obliging those bodies to think how they can improve society and promote equality in their day-to-day business.<\/p>\n
The Tory leader will use a speech on Tuesday to claim that \u201cdangerous and divisive agendas\u201d are being advanced through the use of this key section of the Equality Act, affecting public bodies from the police to the Bank of England.<\/p>\n
The move \u2013 part of her campaign against what she describes as \u201cidentity politics\u201d \u2013 is an attempt to position her party between Labour, which she accuses of wanting further \u201cDEI bureaucracy\u201d, and Reform, which has pledged to scrap the Equality Act altogether.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the Bank of England taking Winston Churchill off banknotes, to police training that tells officers not to treat people the same, public bodies are using PSED to advance dangerous and divisive agendas,\u201d the Conservatives<\/a> said in a press release before Badenoch\u2019s speech in London.<\/p>\n Her criticism of the Bank referred to its announcement earlier this year that it would replace historical figures on bank notes with animals, birds and insects<\/a>, a move that triggered condemnation from Badenoch, Reform and others on the right.<\/p>\n The Bank has said the driver for that decision was a public consultation in which people were asked what they would like to see on new notes. Historical figures came third, behind nature and architecture and landmarks.<\/p>\n Political tensions remain high a week on from violence on the streets of Southampton, after the murder of the 18-year-old student Henry Nowak. Nowak was handcuffed while he bled to death after being stabbed and falsely accused of racism by the man later jailed for killing him. Downing Street has rejected the Trump administration\u2019s claims<\/a> that there is \u201ctwo-tier policing\u201d in the UK.<\/p>\n Claire Coutinho, the shadow minister for equalities, said: \u201cWe need to take identity politics out of public life and bring back common sense, fairness and equality before the law.<\/p>\n \u201cOur public services should be focused on doing their jobs and keeping the public safe \u2013 not pandering to radical ideologies and pushing diversity and inclusion training, which does more harm than good.\u201d<\/p>\n Scrapping the PSED would be opposed by groups and individuals across society because of the consequences in a range of areas, related not just to race but to gender, disability, religion and pregnancy.<\/p>\n The website of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHCR) links the PSED to the obligation for public bodies to end unlawful behaviour banned by the Equality Act 2010<\/a>, including discrimination, harassment and victimisation. The commission\u2019s new chair wrote her PhD thesis on the PSED and has argued<\/a> that evidence largely suggests it has positive impact on equality practice in public authorities.<\/p>\n Badenoch in March announced a \u201cculture and integration commission\u201d, including an overhaul of the Equality Act. That work is being supported by the barrister Andrew Dinsmore, whose advice to repeal the PSED will be published on Tuesday. The Tories contrast this with Reform\u2019s pledge to scrap the Equality Act, which the Conservatives claim would \u201copen the floodgates to more DEI\u201d.<\/p>\n