Rishi Sunak has been accused of “squandering Brexit freedoms” after quietly writing EU equality rules into British law.
The changes pushed through by ministers give force to European Court of Justice (ECJ) rulings, which allow for companies to be sued on almost any grounds.
Some examples include carers being able to sue after being denied the right to work from home and third parties being able to take legal action if executives make 'discriminatory' comments about hiring types of workers, even if they were not recruiting at the time.
The new regulations, which were quietly driven through Parliament, amount to an expansion of New Labour’s Equality Act, which Sunak previously claimed “allowed every kind of woke nonsense to permeate public life” and “must stop”.
Sunak has been accused of “squandering Brexit freedoms” after writing EU equality rules into British law without fanfare
PAThe “woke” laws which critics have claimed have undermined the benefits of Brexit were pushed through despite 10 Conservatives voting against it and others abstaining.
Some say the measures go even further than some ECJ rulings.
Additional concerns around the law include that people would be able to sue for “indirect discrimination” if they were subject to the “same disadvantage” as gay people or members of religions, even if the claimants are not, according to the Daily Telegraph.
The ECJ case law ceased being applicable in the UK at the end of last year, however, the choice to preserve them has rattled some Tories.
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Former Cabinet minister and GB News presenter Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg said: “Not only people who voted for Brexit, but people who didn’t, would think that implementing European Court of Justice (ECJ) judgments in any form is simply weird. We have left the EU.
“I cannot understand why the Government wishes to put more burdens on businesses and add to the Equality Act’s damage to our economic vibrancy,” he told the paper.
Another senior Tory MP, John Hayes, said: “It's not good enough for a Conservative government to let the ratchet move further on. The vote for Brexit was in some sense a cry for help from the law-abiding, patriotic, hard-working majority. They are desperate for more conservatism, not less.”
Others have questioned why ministers have brought in the measures, feeling like the UK is under no obligation to do so.
Jacob Rees-Mogg has criticised the move
GB NEWSHowever, the Government said it was still “carefully” contemplating worries about the move and could make further modifications to the 2010 Equality Act if needed.
A Government spokesman said the new laws are “essential to ensure that existing key rights and principles such as equal pay and protections for breastfeeding women were enshrined in law”.
“We are not restating EU Law where it is not needed. This legislation applies only to directly discriminatory statements relating to recruitment decisions.
“However, we have noted a number of concerns from MPs and are giving these careful consideration. We have not ruled out the possibility of making further amendments to legislation.”