Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill Debate

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Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill

David Ward Excerpts
Tuesday 16th April 2013

(11 years, 6 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Lord Sharma Portrait Alok Sharma
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I understand the sentiment the hon. Lady expresses, but is she suggesting that the Government should legislate to protect people from every conceivable form of discrimination? We know that class discrimination exists, as do other forms of discrimination, but we follow other approaches for those, rather than legislation.

David Ward Portrait Mr David Ward (Bradford East) (LD)
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Is my hon. Friend not concerned that most ordinary, sensible people probably believe that caste discrimination is already illegal and that if we do not go ahead with this, we will be sending out a message that it is acceptable and that claims against it are not supported by the law?

Lord Sharma Portrait Alok Sharma
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Of course it is unacceptable. As I said earlier, any form of discrimination is unacceptable, but we need to ensure that the remedies we have available are used, and ultimately there has to be an evidence base for legislation.