Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch is set to call for the removal of rules that require public bodies, including schools and hospitals, to consider equality when making decisions.
She is expected to argue on Tuesday that the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) has moved away from its original purpose and now encourages what she describes as “dangerous and divisive agendas”.
The Conservatives say scrapping the duty would mark the first step in a broader effort to “restore common sense” across public services.
Badenoch is expected to say the duty has “become a minefield that exposes almost every significant public decision to legal challenge”.
Her intervention comes as the Labour government prepares to launch a new equality and diversity strategy.
A plan which they say will focus heavily on helping people from working-class backgrounds enter and progress within the civil service.
The debate has also intensified following the murder of Henry Nowak.
The Conservatives are seeking to distinguish themselves from both Labour and Reform UK.
Labour is said to have also strengthened equality protections, while Reform wants to abolish the Equality Act entirely.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Badenoch said, “We want to bring back trust in our institutions and the Public Sector Equality Duty is stopping people from applying common sense”.
Though she said the Equality Act remains “important,” she added that it should be “a shield to protect you from discrimination, not a sword for social engineering or to be used to attack other people”.
Badenoch also warned of what she called a culture of fear.
“What we’re seeing is a chilling effect that’s been created where, for example, so many people are afraid of being called racist that they don’t actually do the thing they’re meant to, that is their job.”
The PSED applies across England, Scotland and Wales. It requires public bodies to prevent unlawful discrimination and to consider how their decisions affect people with protected characteristics, including age, disability, race, sex, pregnancy and sexual orientation.
Government guidance states that organisations should apply the duty proportionately and avoid unnecessary bureaucracy.
Introduced under the Equality Act 2010, the duty has been central to several legal challenges involving local authorities and government departments.
Courts have previously ruled against councils over decisions affecting libraries, care homes and vulnerable residents.
In 2020, the Equality and Human Rights Commission found that the Home Office had failed to meet its duty when assessing the impact of its “hostile environment” policies on the Windrush generation.
Ahead of Badenoch’s speech, the Conservatives claimed the duty had helped expand identity politics, diversity initiatives and excessive box-ticking within public services.
The party also argued that it had influenced decisions ranging from banknote design to police training.
Badenoch is expected to tell supporters, “We are going to scrap this duty altogether. We do not need to replace it. We need to explain to people that they should do their jobs”.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission rejected suggestions that the duty obstructs public services.
A spokesperson said the purpose of the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) is to make sure public authorities think about how they promote equality throughout their day-to-day business.
“The PSED is not a barrier to these organisations doing the job the public expects them to do.
“It’s there to help them make good decisions, based on an understanding of the impact those decisions have on everyone that they affect.”
Reform UK also dismissed Badenoch’s proposal as “classic Conservative politics: too little, too late, and nowhere near enough”.
Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat equalities spokesperson Marie Goldman described the speech as “a desperate attempt to fan the flames of culture war politics from a Conservative party completely out of ideas”.
She argued that ministers should focus instead on improving the NHS and the economy.
