Geoffrey Bindman reviews the complex story of equality law
I was struck by John Wadham’s statement in his recent NLJ article on the new Equality Act that before its introduction we had “more than 100 different sets of equality legislation amassed in 35 Acts, 52 statutory instruments, 13 codes of practice, and 16 European directives” (see 160 NLJ 7439, p 1482). The speed with which this branch of the law has developed from its beginning in the Race Relations Act 1965 is remarkable.
Demand
The demand for a law against racial discrimination was inspired by the plight of immigrants from the Asian sub-continent and the Caribbean, encouraged in the 1950s to come to Britain by Enoch Powell and other ministers to remedy serious labour shortages. Local hostility often denied the newcomers access to jobs, housing, and other services. There were calls in Parliament for legislation to tackle a growing social problem and the Race Relations Bill, introduced in 1964 by the Home Secretary Sir Frank Soskice proposed to make racial incitement and discrimination criminal offences.
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