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Equality Bill [HL]

I agree with the noble Baroness who has just spoken. It would be wrong to categorise people and say that they were the kind of people whom we wanted on the commission. If one is not careful, one will find that one has packed the commission with vested interests. The whole point of a commission, if it is to work properly, is that it should be diverse and that people should be able to make decisions from a wide perspective. If we have it so that various members must come from a particular community or must be male or female or anything else, we will immediately encircle the commission and encircle its ability to be generous and understanding. That would be a great mistake.