Archive for equalities

Lynne Featherstone

Lynne Featherstone launches Transgender Action Plan

8 December 2011 ,
Liberal Democrat Home Office minister Lynne Featherstone has today unveiled the government’s Transgender Action Plan: Too many transgender people still face prejudice at every stage of their lives, from playground bullying, to being overlooked for jobs or targeted for crime. I am proud to announce the first government strategy to tackle the specific barriers facing [...]
Willie Rennie

Well done Willie Rennie – involving party members in a campaign

3 December 2011 , , , ,
Having written before about the need and benefits for the Liberal Democrats of treating members and supporters as active participants rather than passive spectators when it comes to pushing for the policies we want (and even suggested an email from Vince Cable), it was great to see Willie Rennie doing just this. As Caron Lindsay [...]

The Leadership Programme: the first 11

The all-member Liberal Democrat News currently in the post to party members includes this update on the party’s Leadership Programme, designed to support candidates from under-represented groups: Of the first 11 candidates, five are women, three from black and minority ethnic backgrounds, three have disabilities. There is one LGBT candidate and five of the 11 [...]

Nick Clegg: Lib Dem MPs are ‘too male and too pale’

10 October 2011 , ,
The Daily Telegraph reports: The Deputy Prime Minister said he was ‘ashamed’ at the lack of women Lib Dem MPs and their absence from the Coalition cabinet. “It is a very serious problem,” he told an audience at Cheltenham Literature Festival. “It is a source of endless shame to me that the Liberal Democrat party [...]

“All-Women Shortlists May Be Necessary, Senior Lib Dems Accept”

So reports the Huffington Post: Senior Liberal Democrats have accepted that the party may need to resort to all-female shortlists or other tough measures to increase the representation of women and minority groups among its MPs… Tim Farron MP … said that he was “utterly embarrassed” that only seven of the party’s MPs were women. [...]

Government takes another step towards equal civil marriage

Ahead of the keynote conference speech from Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone on Saturday afternoon, the Government has announced another step towards making civil marriage available to same-sex couples. A public consultation on how best to do this will start in March next year, with a strong hint of legislation then following in this Parliament: “I [...]

Two Conservative MPs call for mandatory gender quotas for company boards

As the Daily Telegraph reports of the much touted book by Matthew Hancock and Nadhim Zahawi: Sanctions are also suggested against non-executive directors of failed companies. The authors also oppose non-executives at systemically-important banks having other board roles and also want the law changed so directors of financial institutions that require recourse to public funds [...]

Why diversity is good for selfish, old-fashioned, upper class white men

28 April 2011 , ,
There are many arguments in favour of diversity in the workforce in terms of freedom, liberalism and equality (mix in varying measures according to your political viewpoint). But my colleague at MHP Communications, our Chair Gay Collins, has also written a strong piece pointing out how diversity in the boardroom also makes for more successful [...]
Letter from Mark Pack in Liberal Democrat News

How we all lose from discrimination: my letter to Liberal Democrat News

1 March 2011 ,
Dinti Batstone (18 February) is absolutely right that the case to tackle discrimination is strengthened by remembering that we all lose out when discrimination occurs. If we miss out on some of the country’s best talent in Parliament, or brightest at the top of our legal system or smartest running our largest firms then it [...]

Gender pay audits: government to try voluntary route first, option for mandatory audits remains

2 December 2010 , , ,
In news this morning Home Office minister and Liberal Democrat MP Lynne Featherstone said that the government would be looking to get voluntary agreement from industry for gender pay audits, which would reveal cases of unreasonably disparity in pay between men and women. An attempt to introduce voluntary agreement previously fell apart under the Labour [...]