Clause 9 - Human rights
Equality Bill [Lords]
5:15 pm
Eleanor Laing (Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland, Scotland; Epping Forest, Conservative)
We achieved considerable agreement in our discussions this morning, and we have moved forward this afternoon in a pleasantly convivial way and with general agreement. Almost all amendments have been accepted or happily withdrawn, and no one has vehemently disagreed—until now.
Amendment No. 70 is totally unacceptable to the Conservative party. If ever a blank cheque created a charter for lawyers, that would be it. [Interruption.] The hon. Lady may laugh, but the next time she is looking for the Government to spend money on something other than what will effectively be the funding of legal aid—when she next looks for spending on schools or hospitals in her constituency, or more doctors or a kidney machine—she should remember how much money she proposes being spent in pursuance of the amendment.