Victoria Derbyshire Opposes Reforms Attempt To Remove Equality Act

Victoria Derbyshire tore into Reform’s Zia Yusuf by completely dismantling his party’s plans to scrap the Equality Act.

While Nigel Farage unveiled his new spokespeople on Tuesday, Reform MP Suella Braverman said she wanted to get rid of the “pernicious, divisive notion of protected characteristics” in the 2010 law.

Yusuf – who is now Reform’s Home Office spokesperson, despite not being an MP – ended up defending the idea on BBC Newsnight hours later as Derbyshire interrogated exactly what that policy meant.

Derbyshire said: “You’re going to scrap the Equality Act, but you’re still going to protect for example pregnant women from being sacked being they’re pregnant?”

“That’s exactly what we would do,” Yusuf replied.

Derbyshire asked if it would be “the same act but with a different label”, and questioned what Reform would do for the disabled population.

The presenter said: “This act means if you have a disability, you’ve got an equal right to a job, equal access to public transport, or practical stuff that most people don’t even think about – doorframes have to be a certain size so people in a wheelchair can literally get in and out of a building.

“Do you not want to protect those people?”

“Yes, you can expect those things to be protected,” Yusuf replied.

“Right so which of the protected characteristics do you not want to protect anymore, because I’m not clear,” Derbyshire said.

The Reform figurehead said: “We’ve got to look at why, there are huge problems in this country, they are left behind white working class boys –”

“No, the question was specific,” the presenter hit back. “Which do you not want to protect, is it sex? I’m going to go through the list.”

“You’ve got to look at how all these things work together,” Yusuf replied. “You can’t reduce a serious conversation like this to two minutes.”

“I’m not reducing anything. I’m literally going to go through the list and ask what a Reform government would protect,” she said.

Former Green Party leader and ex-MP Caroline Lucas also laid into Yusuf on the same programme, saying: “Your position is utterly incoherent. You have cited no evidence that the Equality Act is discriminating against white working class boys.

“When it comes to the wider issue of taking your word on anything you’ve said, it seems to be a really muddled message.”

The idea of taking apart the Equality Act was also torn apart by TUC general secretary, Paul Nowak, on Tuesday.

The union chief said: “It’s official – Reform UK think discrimination should be legal.

“Scrapping the Equality Act would be a sledgehammer to hard-won rights working people fought for over generations.

“If you’re discriminated against because you’re a woman, black, disabled, pregnant or gay – that’s fine with them.

“This is a blank cheque for bad employers to mistreat their staff.

“And it wouldn’t stop there. Scrapping the Equality Act would just be the start.

“From ripping up equality protections, to backing fire-and-rehire, to opposing a ban on zero-hours contracts, Reform UK have made it clear whose side they’re on – and it’s not working people.”