Kemi Badenoch is set to unveil “common sense” plans to eliminate hated equality red-tape in public services. The Conservative leader wants to scrap rules requiring police officers, nurses, and teachers to obey diversity and inclusion diktats in their daily work. She will argue that officers should focus on catching criminals, NHS staff on treating patients, and public servants on delivering for taxpayers—rather than being dragged into identity politics.
Overhauling the Equality Act
Mrs. Badenoch will use a major speech to outline plans to overhaul the Equality Act and scrap the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED), part of a broader mission to restore common sense across public life. Her intervention comes just a week after a political row erupted over whether the police response to the murder of Henry Nowak in Southampton last December was influenced by equality law.
The 18-year-old student was handcuffed by police officers who ignored his pleas that he had been stabbed, as he lay dying after his British-born killer, Vickrum Digwa, claimed to have been the victim of a racist attack.
The Public Sector Equality Duty
The PSED requires all public sector workers to consider how their work might impact people with different protected characteristics, including age, sex, sexuality, religion, and race. Mrs. Badenoch is expected to say: “It is a duty that is subjective… with no clear rules… and whatever its intention… in practice, it has become a minefield that exposes almost every significant public decision to legal challenge.”
She will cite controversies like the Bank of England removing Winston Churchill from banknotes and police training that instructs officers not to treat everyone the same, as examples where public services are distracted from their core missions.
Criticism of Current Duty
She will describe the recent “madness” when a court found that prison officials breached their duty because their separation of prisoners disproportionately affected Muslims convicted of Islamic terrorism. These terrorists could now be eligible for compensation. “This duty is compromising security decisions… like isolating dangerous criminals… in case the terrorists call us racists,” she will add. “Far from equal outcomes… this duty is leading to ludicrous outcomes.”
The Conservatives claim the duty has fueled a culture of dividing people into competing identity groups and created a bureaucracy that spends public money on “box-ticking.” The party says her approach would ensure public servants focus on their primary duties rather than equalities law.
Badenoch’s Vision
She will add: “The Public Sector Equality Duty has turned equality into a zero-sum game where some groups are preferred over others. And the more public bodies chase equality of outcome… the further they move from equal treatment… and equality under the law. So we are going to scrap this Duty altogether. We do not need to replace it. We need to explain to people that they should do their jobs.”
Shadow Equalities Minister Claire Coutinho said: “Racism has been weaponised across our public services and institutions. In the cases of the Nottingham and Southport killers, the Manchester Arena bomb attack, and the murder of Sara Sharif, the people meant to protect us failed because they were too scared of being accused of being racist.”
Coutinho added that the PSED is the doorway through which marched Stonewall fanatics, the defund the police brigade, and those who gave special protections to one religion. She praised Badenoch as the only voice rejecting this “madness” and said the Conservatives would scrap the duty to restore common sense.
Political Context
Mrs. Badenoch is attempting to tread a path between Labour and Reform UK. In her speech, she will argue that Labour wants to impose further DEI reporting requirements on employers, creating more paperwork and costs. Nigel Farage’s party has said it would simply abolish the Equality Act altogether.
Claire Coutinho said: “The Conservatives believe in judging people by the content of their character, not the colour of their skin. We need to take identity politics out of public life and bring back common sense, fairness, and equality before the law.”
A Labour source hit back, saying: “While the Tories and Reform play politics, Labour is delivering real change. We’ll soon be bringing forward a new workforce equalities strategy that focuses on leveling the playing field and getting proper working-class representation at every level of the Civil Service.”
