Reform to scrap human rights, surely people won't vote for that

[FarFutures]

Putting the immigration issues to one side for a moment, as I believe all parties are trying to come up with ways of addressing it.
Here’s what Reform UK’s own policy documents and recent reporting reveal about their stance on the Equality Act:
Reform UK’s Position on the Equality Act
According to Reform UK’s 2024 “Contract” (their equivalent of a manifesto):

• They intend to scrap the Equality Act 2010 entirely.
• They specifically criticize it for enforcing "positive action" and claim it has lowered standards and reduced economic productivity.
• They also vow to eliminate Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DE&I) rules.
• Furthermore, Reform proposes to leave the European Convention on Human Rights and introduce a new British Bill of Rights.

Other legal commentary confirms the vagueness of their pledge: they want to replace the Equality Act but provide no details on what, if anything, would take its place. What This Means Reform UK’s Pledge Implications Scrap Equality Act 2010 Dismantling legal protections against discrimination based on characteristics like gender, race, disability, religion, sex, and age. End DE&I rules Remove institutional policies aimed at promoting workplace inclusivity and protecting historically marginalized groups. No official replacement proposed Creates legal uncertainty and could leave many without recourse against discrimination. What Others Are Saying On discussion forums like the National Autistic Society’s community board, Reform’s deputy leader Richard Tice has been quoted saying: “We must fire all these EDI woke jobs and scrap the 2010 Equality Act which is so damaging to growth and productivity.” Bottom Line Reform UK is explicitly planning to scrap the Equality Act. Their publicly declared platform not only advocates repealing it, but also cutting tied-in equality measures like DE&I frameworks—with no clear replacement. This represents a radical restructuring of the UK’s equalities legal framework.

Is this not a reason not to vote Reform, if you have any disabled family members, or care about equality and human rights in general, it's terrifying to me.
How is this not talked about more.

Yes we do, I have to attend courses on it or do them online every year.

Oh come on. Potato potato tomato tomato. It’s the same thing and it’s not the uk being influenced by the USA. It’s the whole western world going bonkers and promoting ‘positive discrimination’, otherwise known as ‘discrimination’. Sooner it’s gone the better.

@user1471453601 The Dublin Agreement, which was touted as a boon to the UK because it includes a provision on returning asylum seekers to their EU country of first arrival, was of very little benefit to Britain in this respect.
The effectiveness of the system from the UK’s point of view had declined dramatically in the years just before Brexit. Home Office statistics reveal that, while there were a total of 676 returns of asylum seekers from the UK to other European countries under the rules in 2016 and 2017, 1,019 asylum seekers were transferred to the UK.
The figures reveal that the balance shifted since 2015, when 131 people were transferred to the UK, against 510 people who transferred out.

No you don’t. See @GoBackToTheStart’s post. We don’t have DEI in the UK.

Actually, I have a good understanding. - trying to characterise people who think differently to you as less intelligent is an overused tactic and one which holds no weight these days and usually indicates either an inability or unwillingness to discuss points and understand alternative perspectives. It’s sadly an all too common stance these days,

Bless you. You can tell you’re not in the workplace anymore.

A few years ago, a woman on Question Time said she'd voted Tory because they'd pledged to cut benefits. She was now angry that the Tories had cut her benefits, because she'd thought they meant other people's benefits.

So, yes, people absolutely will vote for their human rights to be scrapped.

Yes people are generally unaware of the numbers when citing this as useful. I don't think other countries have high numbers either. It's a very restrictive agreement. It's a shame even some journalists repeat the misinformation (BBC. included).

Does that work for increasing other people's taxes under Labour too?

@Blossomtoes FYI https://foi.ghc.nhs.uk/responses/dei-positions-in-nhs-trusts/

Except Reform aren’t “scrapping Human Rights”

Kindly stop clouding the issue with facts!

(I’m not a reform supporter, just you know support accuracy!)

Farage and Reform are what happen when you push too hard and too fast and don’t carry enough people with you, instead just assuming you can force them and they’ll eventually fall in line. Plus they aren’t very nice or enlightened people, so who cares what they think?

Clearly things just weren’t moving fast enough for some people. So now, here we are and everything will be worse for everyone. The sad thing is it was all so predictable.

People will vote for it because they think they don't need human rights because they're a 'normal person' and normal people don't need human rights.

I think it was the Secret Barrister who, in his or her book, made the point that you should always ask in whose interest is it for people to have fewer rights? Is it in your interest for anyone to have fewer rights?

Might not seem like a big deal... until you are treated unfairly at work because you become ill, or your child is punished unjustly in school or or your daughter forced out of work because she is pregnant and there's no recourse.

Farage and co will say 'human rights have gone too far', but what they really want is to move towards more of a US-style system where employers can just do what they like with people, because it'll make them and their pals more money. And also so they can treat women, LGBTQ+ people, those with disabilities and people of colour with contempt and without consequences, as is the good old British way.

Scrapping it will invalidate the good Friday agreement and make it harder for us to trade with Europe (because most trade agreements mandate it), slowing down the economy, or not since we''re pretending that Europe doesn't matter. Nige has said he'll cobble something else together to replace the GFA, so that should be ok
None of the people voting for reform are worried that they'll lose their job for getting old or sick or pregnant, so that's ok too.

No.

‘A report for the Policy Exchange think tank, endorsed by Mr Straw, found that arguments for Britain pulling out of the ECHR are “entirely groundless”. ‘

https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/jack-straw-leaving-echr-good-friday-5HjdBhd_2/

Are you always so patronising? I think you missed the point.

Are you always so patronising? I think you missed the point.

I haven’t patronised you. 🤷‍♀️

Exactly. The utter muppets in my area will be convinced that loss of human rights only applies to nasty brown people and that their lives will continue as before. Rather like the people who voted for Brexit and then acted amazed that they couldn't just retire to Spain any more. I've already been told on local pages that talk of reform scrapping the equality act or coming out of the ECHR is just labour propaganda aimed at smearing reform and St Nigel. The man could stand in the high street with a loudhailer and personally shout at them that they will be put out of work and left with no money and no healthcare (and that is one of the less ugly scenarios) but they'd still not see it. They simply won't have it that removing people's protections against the government going too far is a bad bad idea.

Foster Carers have to complete an annual course entitled Diversity, Equality and Inclusion. Every single year.

It’s such a bleak portrayal of people that they only care about what affects them personally. No sense of shared humanity with people from different backgrounds. Funny how so much of our national pride stems from standing up to Hitler, when if Hitler invaded now you can bet that many English Reform voters would be passive collaborators, and not the resistance fighters that other countries also take so much pride in. Reform is still thinly veiled fascism however much they’d pretend not, but with the main difference being they’re far less competent at delivering their agenda (if their councils are anything to go by).

Makes sense when you think about it. A lot of the current policies seem to disadvantage white British people, it would be a positive change for the majority if that was no longer the case. I don’t like Reform on everything, but they’ve got a knack of understanding the country.

Hmm, proposing a review of abortion law, suggesting extending support for married people and removing the 2 child limit. He's not angling for women's status to be reduced to being married off and having lots of (preferably white) children at all....

At this stage with a GE a long way away some Parties will be floating ideas to see what the reaction is. How do people think they would be affected?
Write to Reform and Letters to papers. Join Social Media, Start a thread on MN. Join the debate, contribute.
Tories are still preparing their policies which will be a bit more detailed when launched.