Equality Bill [Lords]

I beg to move, That the Bill be read a Third time. All parts of this House and the other place have adopted a positive and constructive approach to the Bill; for that, I express my gratitude. I am particularly grateful to my hon. Friend the Minister for Women and Equality, who made her debut at the Dispatch Box, to the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, my hon. Friend the Member for Wythenshawe and Sale, East (Paul Goggins), and to my hon. Friend the Minister with responsibility for disability for their expert steering of the Bill through its parliamentary passage. Nye Bevan said that his political motivation was to achieve serenity in people’s lives. Many in this House will have direct experience of how homophobia, racism and discrimination can destroy lives, poison communities and weaken not just our society, but our economy. The Bill has at its heart the removal of fear. It will promote equality, tackle discrimination and widen opportunity. It is underpinned by our shared values of fairness, freedom and solidarity. The Bill is not the end of the journey; it is a vital step on that journey. As we move forward, we will engage properly with all who have an interest in it—inside and outside of this House. The first part of the Bill creates the new commission for equality and human rights, which will play a crucial role in joining up the attack on discrimination. For the first time, it will tackle issues such as ageism and homophobia, and extend support to minority groups such as transsexual people. Once the Bill is enacted, we will move swiftly to recruiting and appointing the new commissioners and their staff. We will ensure that the commissioners are the right people for the work, and that they have personal experience of the issues that they are dealing with. As my hon. Friend the Minister for Women and Equality said, it would be inconceivable—for the benefit of my hon. Friend the Member for Leicester, East (Keith Vaz), I should point out that the Oxford English dictionary definition of ““inconceivable”” is ““cannot be imagined; unbelievable””—to have a commission with, for instance, no black or minority ethnic representatives on it.