Tories pledge to scrap diversity rule after Nowak murder

[Twiglets1]

The Tories have pledged to tear up the requirement for public-sector bodies to promote equality following the murder of Henry Nowak.

Kemi Badenoch has pledged to scrap the “equality duty”, which requires state-sector organisations to foster equality of opportunity between different groups, saying it encourages divisive identity politics.

The party believes the public sector equality duty (PSED) has fuelled a box-ticking mindset under which police officers are advised to treat people differently based on their ethnicity.

The PSED is part of the Equality Act 2010, and tells public bodies they must promote equality of opportunity between those who have a protected characteristic (such as women, black people and gay people) and those who do not.

The Tories believe removing it would restore the principle of equality before the law and stop councils and police forces from advancing “dangerous and divisive agendas”.

In a speech on Tuesday, Mrs Badenoch will say the duty has become a “minefield that exposes almost every significant public decision to legal challenge”.

“A court recently found that prison officials had breached their duty because their separation of prisoners was disproportionately affecting Muslims convicted of Islamic terrorism,” she will say in Westminster.

“These terrorists could now be eligible for compensation. This is madness. This duty is compromising security decisions like isolating dangerous criminals in case the terrorists call us racists.”

She will say the duty leads to “ludicrous outcomes”, such as Norfolk Police telling a job applicant that she was unsuitable because of her gender-critical views.

“The public sector equality duty has turned equality into a zero-sum game where some groups are preferred over others,” she will say. “And the more public bodies chase equality of outcome, the further they move from equal treatment and equality under the law.”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/06/08/tories-pledge-to-scrap-diversity-rule-after-nowak-murder/

Kemi Badenoch has pledged to scrap the “equality duty”, which requires state-sector organisations to foster equality of opportunity between different groups, saying it encourages divisive identity politics.

I think she said the problem is with equality of outcome, not equality of opportunity?

Equality of outcome is where you have a quota, say of women on the boards of companies. And in order to meet that quota you employ a woman who does not have the same ability to do the job instead of a male applicant who does. Same for ethnic quotas, of course. And reverse quotas, like Calocane being on the streets to kill so there weren't "too many" black people in psychiatric detention.

The right way to do it is to fix whatever is wrong at the bottom preventing the minority groups from getting equal outcomes. And recognising that some outcomes can never be equal and which those are, eg black men undergoing prostate cancer treatment.

Do you agree or disagree, or are you just sitting with the popcorn for the entertainment?

I directly quoted from the Telegraph article.

What's your own view?

Thank god! I hope she succeeds and that this is only the beginning of undoing the utter tripe of all that heavy handed ‘ fairness’ that was patently unfair.

Your tone is aggressive so I would rather wait to debate with others if the thread attracts interest.

My husband is not white and he agrees with her.

An example- he once had a row with our racist neighbour who called him a racist name. Police were called. Rightly, they cautioned the neighbour, what he said was completely out of order. Neighbour apologised. My husband was offered counselling, police called him after the incident to check on him and the incident, which whilst not pleasant ,was not massively distressing for him and posed no physical risk to his safety.

A bit later on, I was the victim of an armed robbery- two men with guns held me up in a shop and robbed the shop. Police offered me zero support, castigated me for being so stressed I couldn't remember what they looked like (and also they were wearing balaclavas)- took my belongings away for forensic analysis and never returned them. They didnt offer me any support whatsoever, they didnt even bother to update me on the case or if the men were caught. To this day I have no idea what happened

My husband called a name- loads of support
Me being held up at gun point- zero support and actually got criticised by the police for being in shock and not being able to recall tiny details.

I am in no way saying my husband shouldnt have received support here, but the imbalance in support is disturbing and to me and my husband represents a tick box exercise

This policy is so utterly nauseating. And incredibly unintelligent. I hope Kemi undoes it. Walking on eggshells around poc and gays is so toxic. Minimising the experiences of straight white people = hello Nigel Farage, please help us.
It’s the opposite of equality. What total plonkers ever thought it a good idea?!?!

Sorry to hear that you went through that horrible experience re the armed robbery.

My own experience of the police (& my husband’s) is that they are pretty useless. We’re white.

It does seem strange that your husband was offered counselling just for being called a racist name, unacceptable though that is.

My husband called the police when he witnessed a woman being assaulted by a man outside a pub. They failed to attend let alone offer her any kind of support.

Yes, and to be clear I will not be voting reform and I dont support them but even my husband was like WTAF about the discrepancy and was furious with the police for how they treated me

I think Kemi saying not multi cultural, mono cultural (British) but multiracial is bang on. If you come here and are happy to live in a ghetto you may as well return to that country. If you come here and live by the host country values and norms you’re very welcome. If we go to Saudi you very likely accept you wear a head covering, you don’t eat during Ramadan etc. focus on this not diversity and we’ll have a much more coherent and cohesive country.

I’m warming to Kemi as PM.

I didn’t mean to imply that you, or I, are Reform or Restore voters, really just that it is this kind of imbalance that has fuelled so much rage as to provoke an outcry for change. Kemi appears to addressing the issues, without smoking a cigar or going for a pint every five minutes.

Of course, it was horrible the way that the police treated you. I would like to be surprised by it but I’m not really.

I won’t vote Reform either. I’m currently undecided between Labour or the Conservatives. I do like Kemi more in opposition than when the Tories were in power but that’s often the way that political parties seem better in opposition!

I do apologise but I get annoyed by people who post something potentially inflammatory without giving any idea of what their own feelings are on the subject. It's like going in to bat blindfold. I must learn to wait until the poster makes their intentions clear before I respond.

It’s a policy that may have sounded good in a meeting room but it does not seem to be working in practice.

It should be ok to say - we tried that policy and there were problems with it we didn’t foresee. I say that as someone who believes in equality for all citizens.

Kemi doesn’t have the power to undo it in opposition of course. But at least she is being honest & outspoken about problems in society as she sees them and that is always refreshing.

But first you started the post saying Kemi was going to withdraw equality of opportunity when she is going to withdraw equality of outcome, hence my reply.

The problem with Labour @Twiglets1 is that they and their supporters are the problem!

Not necessarily from active bad faith. But because ultimately their values are emotional whereas sadly but inevitably hard headed realism is what makes the world go round.

Pretending that everything is ok and feather bedding their natural supporters on the left, in the public sector and on benefits is one of the reasons the country is in so much of a mess. Burying your head in the sand and pretending it can be different without pain is not a strategy!

So you faced misogyny so he should face racism?It's not a zero sum. The police should be challenged to give you as good support as your husband had, not to bring his support down to the same level.

How do you know it was tick box? Maybe the officers who supported your husband were better at their job than the ones who supported you?

I don't get some people's attitude of wanting others to have the same bad experience, hard time etc as they did. Can't we be pleased some people did a good job and then use that to encourage others to also do just as well.

It's a ridiculous policy. She's right to call it out.

Hopefully Starmer will get rid of it before Burnham gets rid of him - as I don't think Burnham will get rid of it.

I’ve already explained that my first post was a direct quote from an article in the Telegraph. That I thought was an interesting article that people may wish to discuss.

What is your view on the subject that we are now discussing?

I think the issue has been overwhelmed by the race element.

But if we take this in regards to women... Do we think Kemi's proposals will benefit women? I'm asking as I don't know enough. My instinct is 'no' but it's a genuine question.

I don’t agree that Labour or Labour supporters are necessarily the problem.

Though my respect for Kemi personally has grown recently, my memory isn’t that short about how bad the Conservatives were when in power over many years.

That’s what makes it hard for many voters who are increasingly seeing themselves as politically homeless. They all seem bad when in power and those like the Green Party or Reform seem even worse (too extreme).

And I've explained that your first paragraph wasn't.

I think Kemi is absolutely right. I'm sorry if that wasn't clear from my reply.

Does the current system benefit women? I doubt it.

Firstly I never said that. I even stated clearly in my post it was good my husband got support because I knew people like you would try to twist what I am saying. Sorry, you dont get to do that. Dont put words into my mouth.

Secondly, my husband was more furious than me about it as his wife's life was threatened. He was actually the one who initially used the word tick box. I dont think it's unreasonable to expect a certain level of victim support considering I was the victim of a crime where I could have been shot. I could have died that day. If you dont see anything wrong with that then you are part of the problem.