News story

9th March 2005

Local MP Speaks Out Against Discrimination

Steve Webb speaking at the Lib Dem party conference

In a speech to the Liberal Democrat spring party conference, local MP Steve Webb has successfully moved a motion calling for a ban on discrimination against older people. The MP highlighted the fact that it is still perfectly legal to discriminate against someone in the workplace simply because of their age. He called for the immediate introduction of effective legislation to outlaw such discrimination, and condemned the failure of successive governments to bring in such a ban.

Steve Webb's comments on age discrimination came as part of a debate on a wider motion which also contained calls for action to improve the pension position of women, an issue on which the Northavon MP has campaigned over several years. The motion, which was passed unanimously, highlighted the way in which many women who spend years of their working life not in paid employment, but bringing up children or caring for a disabled person, can end up with very poor pension rights. The motion backed the introduction of a "Citizen's Pension" where people who have had caring responsibilities  are fully entitled to a pension.

Commenting after the debate, Steve Webb said:

"When deciding who should get a job - or keep a job - the only thing that should matter is whether you are good enough to do it, and not the age on your birth certificate. We need to get away from the attitude that just because someone is past a certain age they are somehow less effective than a younger person. Successive governments have had the opportunity to outlaw age discrimination but have failed to do so. I believe that this should be a top priority for an incoming Government".