Ministers face calls to drop ‘crazy’ changes to equality laws ‘that will penalise middle classes’
Ministers were last night urged to drop ‘crazy’ changes to equality laws that could allow councils and public services to discriminate against the middle classes.
Senior Tories called on the Government to abandon plans to introduce a new ‘socio-economic duty’ which could force authorities to favour the poor.
The idea – dubbed ‘socialism in one clause’ – has been a Labour rallying point for years. The last Labour government tried to introduce a similar proposal but it was blocked by the incoming Coalition administration in 2010.
Now ministers have quietly slipped out a consultation on introducing the change across the country. Critics claim the proposal would skew public services towards deprived areas at the expense of the middle classes.
For example, outstanding schools could be ordered to seek out more applications from pupils in deprived communities, bus routes could be focused on poorer areas, police patrols could be targeted at sink estates and NHS services could be diverted to prioritise conditions suffered disproportionately by the worst off.
There are fears it could lead to more cases such as the example highlighted by The Mail on Sunday in which the mother of an eight-year-old boy was denied vital treatment by the NHS as he attends a private school.
Tory frontbencher Richard Holden urged the Government to abandon the plan and focus on improving services, saying: ‘Labour believe aspiration, hard work and achievement are dirty words. This crazy policy is the latest in Sir Keir Starmer‘s ideological attack on people who’ve worked hard and play by the rules.’
Tory education spokesman Neil O’Brien described the plan as a ‘class war law’ which he said would ‘divide Middle England and punish families who work hard and aren’t on benefits’.
Labour’s manifesto said the party would extend equality laws covering race, sex, age and disability to add ‘the inequality of social class’
Tory frontbencher Richard Holden (pictured) urged the Government to abandon the plan to introduce a new ‘socio-economic duty’ and focus on improving services
The Equality Act was pushed through by Harriet Harman (pictured) in one of the final acts by the last Labour government
But Labour sources dismissed the warnings as ‘desperate’ and claimed some Conservative-led councils have asked for the change.
A source said: ‘The Tories used to care about levelling up the neglected parts of this country and their public services – which this socio-economic duty is designed to improve.’
The Equality Act was pushed through by Harriet Harman in one of the final acts by the last Labour government. But the party ran out of time to introduce the socio-economic duty and it was scrapped by the incoming Conservative-led government.
Labour revived the idea last year. Its manifesto said the party would extend equality laws covering race, sex, age and disability to add ‘the inequality of social class’.
The new consultation on the change states that public bodies must give ‘due regard to how their decisions might help to reduce inequalities associated with socio-economic disadvantage’.
Government sources highlighted a scheme in which Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service scrapped its requirement for budding firefighters to have a driving licence as part of a diversity drive.
