EMLD chair Issan Ghazni reflects on the successful campaign to save the equality 'general duty' in Liberal Democrat Voice today. You can read the article here, or below.

FULL ARTICLE REPRODUCED

It was fitting that, on the 20th anniversary of the death of Stephen Lawrence, the government decided to listen to campaigners and save a key element of our equalities laws.

Campaigning by EMLD and equalities experts has led to the government listening and dropping a plan to axe a key element of equalities law.

Lib Dem equalities minister Jo Swinson made the concession this week after peers rejected proposals to axe a vision statement which spelt out the need for the equalities watchdog - the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) - to work towards the elimination of discrimination in Britain.

Delegates at the Welsh Liberal Democrat conference voted today to urge Lib Dem peers to "vote with their consciences" tomorrow when the Lords once again debate Government plans to scrap an equalities vision statement.

The Welsh party, at their annual conference in Cardiff, this afternoon supported an emergency motion which noted "with dismay" the fact that last week Lib Dem MPs had rejected an amendment by peers to retain the General Duty which sets out a vision of a society free of discrimination.

EMLD are lobbying the House of Lords ahead of a vote on an important part of Britain's equalities laws which the government want to scrap.

Last month the Lords voted to keep the General Duty - a mission statement to work towards the elimination of discrimination - but when the measure went before the Commons last week MPs overturned the decision.

Issan Ghazni, chairperson of the Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats, has written to all Lib Dem MPs urging them to keep a crucial element of Britain's equality law ahead of a Commons vote tomorrow.

The letter reads:

We are writing to urge you to support the Lords amendment to retain Section 3 of the 2006 Equality Act, the General Duty of the Equality and Human Rights Commission. This measure is under threat in the ERRB.

Campaigners outraged at government plans to scrap a key feature of equality law have launched a campaign to lobby MPs.

The public service union PCS has begun a website for members of the public to directly lobby their local MPs to save Section 3 of the 2006 Equality Act which enshrined a mission statement to eliminate discrimination.

Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats were out in force at the party's London region conference in the Docklands last Saturday.

EMLD once again ran a stall at the all-day event which included leaflets plugging the forthcoming race equality conference we are jointly organising with the Social Liberal Forum on 1st June with keynote speaker Vince Cable. See link for more details.

Book now for the Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats (EMLD) and Social Liberal Forum (SLF) conference on race equality with guest speaker Vince Cable.

The conference is taking place on Saturday 1st June, 11.45am to 6pm near Shoreditch High Street station (London Overground). Tickets are £10 waged, £5 concessions.

At Spring Conference in Brighton, EMLD co-hosted a fringe event on the evening of 8 March with Liberal Democrat Disability Association (LDDA) and with Phil Stevens, Chair of LDDA as one of the panel speakers.

Whilst the fringe event had originally been publicised as covering the topic of "Race Equality - A Liberal Democrat Approach," EMLD and LDDA agreed to team up and widen the fringe debate to cover amendments to the Equality legislation introduced by the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill (the "ERR Bill"). A week before Conference, the ERR Bill had been debated in the House of Lords and the upper chamber voted by a majority to defeat the Government's proposal to abolish the general duty of the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Lester Holloway, EMLD's secretary, wrote about reaction to Nick Clegg's immigration speech on the Lib Dem Voice website. The article is reproduced below, but you can read the original article here.

"Reaction to Nick Clegg's immigration speech shows just how much our party values the cultural and economic contribution migration makes to Britain.