Clause 9 - Human rights
Equality Bill [Lords]
5:15 pm
Eleanor Laing (Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland, Scotland; Epping Forest, Conservative)
Yes, I accept that. However, the hon. Lady said small amounts of money. I accept that spending small amounts of money in the right place is strategically correct. I emphasise again, lest there be any misunderstanding, that I am not against the large amount of money being spent in furtherance of the Bill’s aims. I am in favour of that, but I am absolutely and resolutely against a charter that would encourage more funding of more cases. We are already a sufficiently litigious society—far more so that we used to be. People talk about rights, but they do not consider duties. If someone trips over a paving stone, they do not say, “Oh, goodness, I should have looked where I was going.” They immediately try to find legal aid in order to sue whoever they think has the most money among those responsible for the paving. I used to work in that area, and I understand it well.