sitive action is allowed; and
▪ A new duty on public authorities to have due regard to socio-economic disadvantage
when taking strategic decisions.
Of course, legal models cannot simply be transplanted from one jurisdiction to another.
Account has to be taken of the precise historical,
political, and socio-economic circumstances
in which equality legislation is made and enforced. This article, therefore, aims to explain the history and context of the British Act, and then to assess its content against the benchmark of the Declaration of Principles on Equality (the Declaration) launched by The Equal Rights Trust (ERT) which represents
a “moral and professional consensus among human rights and equality experts.”2 It will be seen that, despite its promise, there are still some important gaps between the Act and the vision of the Declaration.
1. Five Generations of Legislation
The Equality Act 2010 is part of the fifth generation of equality legislation in Britain. Social legislation of this kind is not the “gift” of enlightened rulers. It is the outcome of struggles between different interest groups and competing ideologies. As Abrams has said, “what any particular group of people gets is not just a matter of what they choose, but what they can force or persuade other groups to let them have.”3 The first generation
of British legislation was