Equality Bill

Equality Bill

The Equality Bill is a proposed act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which was announced in May 2008 as part of the British government's draft legislative programme for the year ahead.

Proposals

The ruling Labour Party included a commitment to an Equality Bill in its 2005 election manifesto. The Discrimination Law Review was established in 2005 to develop this legislation. This review is currently led by the Government Equalities Office. The review considered the findings of the Equalities Review Panel, chaired by Trevor Phillips, which reported in February 2007. [cite web
url=http://www.equalities.gov.uk/dlr/index.htm
title=Discrimination Law Review (DLR)
publisher=Government Equalities Office
] The government had previously referred to the outcome of this review as the Single Equality Bill. [cite web
url=http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/communities/frameworkforfairnessconsultation
title=Proposals for a Single Equality Bill for Great Britain
publisher=Communities and Local Government website
]

The bill is intended to simplify the law by bringing together existing anti-discrimination legislation. Most of the existing law is contained in the following legislation:
*The Equal Pay Act 1970
*The Sex Discrimination Act 1975
*The Race Relations Act 1976
*The Disability Discrimination Act 1995
*The Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003
*The Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003;
*The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006
*The Equality Act 2006
*The Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007

The bill would also extend until 2030 the exemption from sex discrimination law allowing political parties to select all-women candidate short-lists. The existing exemption until 2015 was created by the Sex Discrimination (Election Candidates) Act 2002.

Reform of the monarchy

In April 2008, Solicitor General Vera Baird announced that as part of the Single Equality Bill, legislation would be introduced to repeal parts of the Act of Settlement 1701 that prevent Roman Catholics or those who marry Roman Catholics from ascending to the throne, and to change the inheritance of the monarchy from cognatic primogeniture to absolute primogeniture, i.e. the first-born heir would inherit the throne regardless of their gender or religion. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7357017.stm
accessdate=2008-04-21
title=Move to change succession laws
date=2008-04-20
publisher=bbc.co.uk
] However, Attorney General Baroness Scotland subsequently ruled there would be no change in the law of succession in 2008, saying, "To bring about changes to the law on succession would be a complex undertaking involving amendment or repeal of a number of items of related legislation, as well as requiring the consent of legislatures of member nations of the Commonwealth". [cite news
url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/theroyalfamily/1905565/U-turn-on-royal-succession-law-change.html
title=U-turn on royal succession law change
author=Andrew Pierce
publisher=The Telegraph
date=April 29th, 2008
]

References

External links

* [http://www.equalities.gov.uk/publications/FRAMEWORK%20FAIRER%20FUTURE.pdf Framework For a Fairer Future] - Government Equalities Office


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Bill Ainsle — Bill Ainslie was a passionate artist and explorer who lived his art as a journey of self transformation and a deeply personal experience in relation with the other. Along the years, one can see a natural transition in his works from emphatic… …   Wikipedia

  • Equality California — or EQCA is a non profit civil rights organization that advocates for the rights of LGBT people in California.ignificant Activities and ProgramsEquality CaliforniaEQCA has sponsored and helped lobby for the passage of more than 45 bills supporting …   Wikipedia

  • Equality North Carolina — is an activist group in North Carolina designed to fight for equality rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender citizens of the state. Equality NC has two sister projects, with whom it works closely: Equality NC PAC and Equality NC… …   Wikipedia

  • Bill Van Auken — (born 1950) is a politician and activist for the Socialist Equality Party and was a presidential candidate in the U.S. election of 2004, announcing his candidacy on January 27, 2004. His running mate was Jim Lawrence. He came in 15th for the… …   Wikipedia

  • Bill of Rights — / rīts/ often cap B&R: a summary of fundamental rights and privileges guaranteed to a people against violation by the government; esp, cap B&R: the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution see also the constitution in the back matter Merriam… …   Law dictionary

  • Bill Crews — served as the mayor of Melbourne, Iowa from 1984 through 1998. He attracted national attention for being openly gay, having come out of the closet at the GBLT Equality March on Washington in 1993. During Crews service as mayor of Melbourne, the… …   Wikipedia

  • Bill Ryan (professor) — Bill Ryan Born William James Ryan, on December 23, 1955, in Moncton, (New Brunswick) is a professor of Social Work at McGill University in Montréal, Québec, Canada. He is an international expert in the field of sexuality, sexual education,… …   Wikipedia

  • Equality Maryland — History and ActivitiesThe organization began operations in 1990 under the name of Free State Justice, changing its name to Equality Maryland in 2004. It achieved a major legislative victory in 2001 with the passage of the Maryland Anti… …   Wikipedia

  • Equality Party (Quebec) — The Equality Party ( fr. Parti Égalité) is a political party in Quebec, Canada, that promotes the use of English in Quebec on an equal basis with French. The party did not run any candidates in the 2007 Quebec election and appears to be… …   Wikipedia

  • Equality Ride — The Equality Ride is an annual civil rights bus journey across the United States led by young adults. It primarily fosters dialogue or, failing that, confronts colleges and universities that it believes discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”