Prime Minister Keir Starmer has described Reform UK's proposal to repeal the Equality Act as 'shocking' and 'un-British', warning that the legislation which has protected women for decades would be torn up. In a pre-recorded interview with BBC Breakfast, Starmer argued that the Act represents core British values, including the principle that women should be treated equally to men.
Starmer said: 'Can I just say how shocking it is that Reform are suggesting we tear up the Equality Act. This is decades of protection, it goes to basic values, one of which is should women be treated as equal as men. That is core. That is British.' He added that Reform's plan would send women back to 'old days' when they were not treated equally.
The Prime Minister also noted that the Act protects people on grounds of race, recalling past practices where landlords would exclude individuals based on race. 'I believe passionately to be tolerant, compassionate and diverse is what it is to be British,' he said, challenging Reform to defend the proposition that women should be treated differently.
Earlier this week, Suella Braverman, who was sacked twice as home secretary and defected to Reform UK, was appointed as the party's spokesperson for education, skills and equalities. At a press conference, Braverman announced that on her first day in government she would abolish her own equalities brief and repeal the Equality Act.
In the same interview, Starmer addressed the position of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, urging him to speak to authorities about the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. 'Anybody who has any information should testify,' Starmer said, emphasising that 'everybody is equal under the law, and nobody is above the law.'
On local elections, Starmer defended the government's decision to abandon plans to postpone polls in 30 authorities, stating he had followed legal advice and reinstated the elections for May.
