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4.50 pm
Mr. Harry Barnes (North-East Derbyshire): I do not usually display euphoria about legislation--not even when a Labour Government introduce it--and I often find something I can carp or be grumpy about, or areas where changes can be made. However, I am enthusiastic about
this Bill. I feel like a Manchester United supporter will feel after last night's result; or like a supporter of Sunderland, which I am, whose team has just won promotion, which it has. I feel like that because, now that this Bill has been introduced, I believe that we are--at last--getting there, just as Manchester United will feel that it is getting there because it has reached the final, even though it has not yet played it.
As my right hon. Friend the Minister said, the Bill is a crucial staging post on the way to wider ends. The end legislative goal must be full civil rights for disabled people, but, even when we have full civil rights for disabled people and a commission that works to enforce those rights, we will not have solved all the problems of discrimination. The legislative tools we use only enable us to begin the work. Nevertheless, the Bill represents a crucial step in the right direction; it is a measure forwhich I, and other hon. Members--especially Labour Members--have been arguing for a long time, and it is perceived as a key part of the development of fuller rights.
The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 has been mentioned repeatedly. That was an inadequate, restricting and grudging piece of legislation, although I accept what my hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham, East(Mr. Heppell) said about that Act's being changed fantastically as it went through the House. It turned out to be a far better piece of legislation when it left the House than it was when it was introduced, and a great deal has been done since to make the most of its provisions. Labour Front Benchers deserve credit for having acted on the existing measures so as to achieve the most that they could.
Let us remember that the amendments proposed as that legislation passed through the House--especially the key amendment, which we knew would achieve the most, to set up the Disability Rights Commission--were opposed all down the line. Those amendments were opposed in Committee, on the Floor of the House on Report and in the House of Lords. It should not be forgotten that the person who was involved in running the campaign to block those radical changes to what became the Disability Discrimination Act was the current Leader of the Opposition, the right hon. Member for Richmond, Yorks (Mr. Hague). At that time, he was the junior Minister piloting the Bill, and his promotion through the ranks of the Conservative party depended on his ability to deliver.
The legislation had been introduced only reluctantly, because of trouble the previous year with the private Member's Bill promoted by my hon. Friend the Member for Kingswood (Mr. Berry), which had been blocked repeatedly as it passed through it stages in the House. The following year, I was lucky enough to be able to introduce my own version of the Civil Rights (Disabled Persons) Bill. That Bill was eventually allowed into Committee, after all sorts of devices had been used to prevent its getting there. Although that Committee had a Conservative majority, I was able to suggest the appointment of certain Conservative Members who I knew would be willing to support the legislation. In fact, in Committee, more Conservatives sat on my side than sat with the current Leader of the Opposition. Most of the time, the right hon. Gentleman was joined in Committee by Tim Smith and Charles Hendry, who were Conservative Members of Parliament at that time.
The Leader of the Opposition controlled the situation and ensured, almost single-handedly, that the measure did not return to the Floor of the House until it was too late. The right hon. Gentleman was then promoted and, when the legislation returned to the House on Report, we had 32 minutes in which to deal with about 108 amendments. Alistair Burt, who then had charge of the legislation, ensured that it was blocked. The Bill sought to establish a Disability Rights Commission. We always said that the power to establish that commission could be removed from the Civil Rights (Disabled Persons) Bill and inserted in the Disability Discrimination Act, but that did not happen.
I welcome the Opposition's new attitude and the contributions from the other side of the House that illustrate that considerable change of heart. However, we must deal with the Disability Discrimination Act because the measure before us is attached to it and shadows many of its terms and conditions. The commission will flower only when a Civil Rights (Disabled Persons) Bill runs alongside it.
Let us explore some of the shortcomings of the Disability Discrimination Act. It has a restricted definition of a "disabled" person which classifies disability in purely clinical and medical rather than social terms. Definitions should always work against the discriminator: we should seek to stop discrimination rather than excluding people who do not fit into certain clinical categories. The commission will be able to tackle that definition problem as clause 2 allows it to present us with measures on which we can legislate further at a later stage. It is a dynamic for change, and the commission can play an important role when it comes to definitions.
The scope of the Disability Discrimination Act, limited by definition, was further restricted more specifically by the exclusion of certain areas. The commission must address that problem. The legislation as it first appeared before the House contained an incredible number of exceptions: almost every educational institution one could think of was excluded. The Bill was ultimately modified thanks to the work of my right hon. Friend the Member for Coatbridge and Chryston (Mr. Clarke), but it had similar shortcomings in the transport area--for example, it was possible for disabled people to access railway and bus stations but not trains and buses.
The Disability Discrimination Bill was not intended to apply to Northern Ireland. However, Northern Ireland Members of Parliament signed up to the Civil Rights (Disabled Persons) Bill and four Northern Ireland Members from different political parties--including the hon. Member for Belfast, South (Rev. Martin Smyth), who spoke earlier--sponsored the Bill. As a consequence, the present Leader of the Opposition promised, upon its introduction in the House, that the measure would apply to Northern Ireland. That was the first change made to the Bill.
The measure before us does not apply to Northern Ireland owing to particular circumstances in that Province at present. However, some of the arguments advanced by the hon. Member for Belfast, South should be examined closely.
Another major defect of the Disability Discrimination Act, which is directly remedied in the Bill, is that it did not make provision for enforcement agencies. The National Disability Council was an advisory body mainly
stimulated into activity by Ministers. Luckily, this Government have put the council into action. As hon. Members have pointed out, the council did more than we imagined it would when it came out in favour of establishing a commission--the exact measure that we are debating today.
Clauses 2 to 9 contain the practical measures on how the commission will operate. They may need to be topped and tailed in Committee in view of the many points that have been made in the debate. Those measures tackle the difficulties of enforcing existing legislation, so the Bill enables us to enforce inadequate legislation, but we must look to the future and seek to introduce adequate legislation.
I have a great interest in Northern Ireland affairs, and it was appropriate that the improved Disability Discrimination Act was eventually enacted in the Province, where there has always been considerable commitment, across the political spectrum, to disability rights. The Bill will not apply to Northern Ireland because it will have an Equality Commission with a much wider scope. There is a problem in that there will be a delay in setting up that commission, but I know that the Assembly will not ignore disability rights.
The records reveal that the former Northern Ireland forum had an important debate on disability and supported fully the establishment of rights for disabled people across the board. There will always be pressure within the Northern Ireland system to deliver those rights in the Province. We need to apply our minds to find out the quickest way to achieve that delivery.
The Bill is widely welcomed by organisations of disabled people and their parliamentary allies. I like to view myself as one of those allies, which is why I am so enthusiastic about the Bill. Four hon. Members have attended the debate who took part in the Committee stage on my Civil Rights (Disabled Persons) Bill. It is strange not to have Lord Morris here for this debate. He, too, was a member of that Committee. People have recognised those hon. Members who have been active on this issue.
As I pointed out earlier, some Conservative Members also supported that Bill. However, other Conservatives Members opposed the adoption even of the Disability Discrimination Act, and thought that there should be no regulation. Some of them did not lose their seats at the last election. It is nice to see that they have been outweighed and outvoted within the Conservative ranks.
I turn to the point raised by the hon. Member for Maidenhead (Mrs. May), the Opposition spokesperson. We should not spoil the celebrations. There are objections to certain actions by organisations of disabled people, who are protesting about the Welfare Reform and Pensions Bill. They are concerned that disabled people will experience losses as a result of that legislation.
The Disability Benefits Consortium, which comprises more than 250 groups, has already presented a mass lobby. To some extent, it has already pocketed the Bill. I think that it expected the Bill to be delivered at some stage, as things were moving in that direction. Statements were made at Labour party conferences and other forums which suggested that a Bill would be delivered. We are thankful that it is now before us. However, the consortium has moved on to other concerns and does not want to see itself being pushed back.
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