Government defeat in the Lords weakens Equality Bill
A fight over amendments could lose the legislation says Symon Hill
A defeat for the government in the house of Lords has put the future of the Equality Bill in jeopardy. In the last year of a government, Bills can be delayed in the house of Lords, risking their path to the statute book. In this case, the government is now in the position of having to accept Lords’ amendments to the Bill or risk losing the legislation. Ministers have said that they will not fight amendments passed in the House of Lords to allow faith-based organisations to refuse to employ people on grounds of their sexuality. The amendments, which scraped through the Lords – in one case by only five votes – were promoted by socially conservative Christian groups and backed by Church of England bishops. But Cutting Edge, an anti-discrimination coalition that includes Christian, Muslim, Jewish and secular groups, encouraged the government to resist the amendments. They point out that the Bill already gives exemptions for clergy and others in representative roles.
The issue hit the headlines around the world when the pope said that parts of the proposed legislation were contrary to ‘natural law’. He spoke of the need to preserve religious liberty, a phrase used repeatedly by groups such as Christian Concern For Our Nation (CCFON), which have lobbied for the amendments in the Lords.
However, the Christian thinktank Ekklesia pointed out that the exemptions would leave employees of religious organisations with less legal protection than staff in secular contexts.
The debate is technically about the freedom of religious organisations to employ only those who share their values. In practice, the focus has been overwhelmingly on whether they may refuse to employ lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. The Bill as it stands would not stop organisations from requiring job applicants to share their general ethos.
Ekklesia suggests that those most likely to lose out from the exemptions are LGBT Christians.
After the Lords passed the amendments on 25 January, the government looked likely to reject them. However, equalities minister Harriet Harman then backed down, saying ‘I would not want to lead them to anticipate that it will be brought forward again in this House [of Commons]’.
The religious organisations within the Cutting Edge coalition have been frustrated with media coverage that has implied that all faith-based groups oppose equality legislation and support the exemptions. The coalition includes the Muslim Women’s Network, Liberal Judaism and the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement as well as the Trades Union Congress, the British Humanist Association, Ekklesia and others.
‘Religious liberty and freedom from prejudice are rights for all, not just for some’, said Martin Prendergast, a Roman Catholic member of Cutting Edge who disputed the Pope’s understanding of ‘natural law’.
The way in which the amendments were passed has fuelled debate about the unelected nature of the House of Lords and particularly the presence of Anglican bishops.
John Sentamu, archbishop of York, has been a vocal supporter of exemptions, telling the Lords that ‘a barrage of endless tribunals’ would result from the Bill. But the Liberal Democrats’ equality spokesperson, Anthony Lester, said that similar predictions had been made about the effect of the Human Rights Act on faith groups, but had proved mistaken.
Of the eight current bishops to vote on the amendments, all voted in favour. Given that one amendment was passed by five votes, this is a rare occasion on which bishops’ votes have made the difference to the final outcome. One former bishop, Richard Harries, who is now a life peer, took issue with his former colleagues and voted against the exemptions.
Other denominations seem considerably less concerned. Rachel Lampard, a policy advisor to the Methodist Church, told the Friend that her Church understands why some Christians have felt concerned about what they saw as the impact of the Equality Bill. But she added, ‘All the churches wish to support the promotion of equality and justice throughout our society, and it would be a shame if the focus on the Equality Bill becomes narrowed down to a single concern’.
