Joanna Tuffy (Labour)

I move amendment No. 22:

In page 20, between lines 18 and 19, to insert the following new paragraph:

"(b) by the insertion in subsection (3) after 'Equal Treatment Directive' of 'or any other Directive referred to in the Title to the Equality Act 2004,'".

The background to this Labour Party amendment is that EU law provides that where there is a breach of a directive, there must be a right to sue in the courts. That refers to the European Court of Justice ruling in the Marshall v. Southampton and South West Hampshire Area Health Authority "No. 2" case. Under the 1998 Act, this right was confined to gender cases as those alone were covered by the directive. As EU law has extended, the 1998 Act should be amended accordingly. If it were not, the Bill could be struck down as being contrary to EU law.