Fawcett comments on latest WESC recommendations for Brexit equality laws

Today the Women and Equalities Select Committee published a report, stating that the Government must act to embed equality into law and policy in the UK after Brexit.

The report includes two concrete priorities, the first, ‘to include a clause on equality in the Great Repeal Bill saying that there will be no going backwards on current levels of equality protections, and second, to amend the Equality Act 2010 to empower Parliament and the Courts to declare whether new laws are compatible with equality principles.’

Sam Smethers, Chief Executive of the Fawcett Society said:

“We welcome the Select Committee’s timely inquiry and recommendations. Securing a meaningful commitment on women’s rights and equality is fundamental and should be an early step in the process. Writing this into the Great Repeal Bill would provide much of the reassurance we need. We have be sure that powers that Ministers will be given in that bill are not then used to unravel protections at a later date."

“We want to use Brexit to go further and make the UK the best place to be a woman. So let’s do more than defending what we have, let’s set out a progressive agenda for the future.”

To see the full report and more on its primary recommendations, click here.

In response to the Government’s failure to act on Gender Pay Gap recommendations last week, the Committee has set up a gender pay gap Government Response web forum, which you can submit evidence to here.