New Appointments to the Board of the Equality and Human Rights Commission

That the Parliament expresses concern over the recent appointment of new Commissioners to the Board of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC); notes the appointment of Jessica Butcher MBE, who it understands has expressed her personal view that modern feminism disempowers women; further understands that she has publicly disputed the causes of the gender pay gap and has suggested that women who experience sex discrimination should not “go cry to someone about how you might have been gender-discriminated against”; notes the appointment of David Goodhart as a Commissioner, who it understands has publicly outlined his support for the Hostile Environment policy and described complaints of systemic racism as “statistically naïve”; believes that there is a vital need for an equalities regulator that is properly empowered and resourced to tackle inequality across its remit in the UK; considers that the EHRC plays a vital role in taking, and intervening in, legal cases pertaining to sex, race and other discrimination on the basis of protected characteristics, and regrets that confidence in the EHRC’s ability to mount a robust response to inequality in Scotland may, it believes, be undermined by these appointments.