Responding to Conservative proposals to repeal the Public Sector Equality Duty, Daniel Freeman, Managing Editor at the Institute of Economic Affairs, said:

“Proposals to scrap the Public Sector Equality Duty are welcome. It would reduce bureaucratic box ticking by public sector officials and reduce public bodies’ exposure to drawn out court cases, like the one that prevented a former pub converting to new homes on the grounds the council had failed to consider the duty in the Equality Act.

“However, it does not address other areas of concern such as Section 159 of the Equality Act’s ‘positive action’ provisions, which can allow irrelevant identity criteria like race, sex or sexuality to play a role in recruiting. Politicians should be tackling knotty and sensitive issues from a rational liberal position like this, but those who really want to prioritise meritocracy should consider removing positive action from public sector recruitment along with the Equality Duty.”