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Equality Bill

When the noble Baroness goes away to think about it, could she take seriously the last intervention of the noble Lord, Lord Lester? It is the principle; you gather all those data, so that—what? If you do not resolve that principal question, a time will come when the Labour Party will be accused of not having enough of this kind, the Conservative Party will always be seen as the Church of England at prayer, or whatever, and the Liberals will be accused of being totally Methodist and nothing else, so I am worried. What would happen if Parliament suddenly showed that, after one particular election, it was 99 per cent made up of black people? What would we then say about the next election? am worried about creating silos in which we are not going to be free, so the principle has to be established. It is not just about the collection of data but about eliminating indirect or direct discrimination within the parties themselves.