The Women and Equalities Committee today published its report on equality and human rights laws after Brexit.
Equality and Human Rights Commission Chief Executive Rebecca Hilsenrath said:
Britain has a long tradition of upholding people’s rights and challenging intolerance. Brexit is a great opportunity for the Government to set out a vision of the kind of country we want to be and to strengthen the equality and human rights protections in the UK once we leave the EU’s laws behind.
We agree with the Committee that we need to ensure all existing protections are written into UK law. It is vital that there is no weakening of protections we all rely on day-to-day. We also need to strengthen our home-grown protections, including by bringing in a constitutional right to equality against which any new laws can be tested to check they meet the standard of fairness that is central to British values. This is essential if we are to heal some of the divisions that we saw in the run up to, and since, the referendum.
We stand ready to help Government implement these recommendations and work with them to protect and improve equality and human rights laws.
Notes to editors
Find out more about the Women and Equalities Committee.
