Racism, sexism, ageism - it's shocking that one of these is still legal

02/06/2008

An open letter to Gordon Brown: In your 2007 speech to Party Conference you said you would deliver "No discrimination on the basis of race, gender, sexuality, age, or faith and no discrimination against the disabled.” But sadly this is not the reality of today's society - in which every other form of discrimination has been outlawed, but age discrimination remains rampant, and perfectly legal outside the workplace.

For more than a year, thousands of Help the Aged campaigners have been calling on your Government to ban age discrimination in the provision of goods, facilities and services.

As Chairman of Weston-super-Mare Senior Citizens Forum I am writing on behalf of our members who are appalled that your Government has not yet made a firm commitment to doing this. As long as older people are without this protection, the message will be clear - you are comfortable with older people being considered second class citizens.

You mentioned in your Draft Legislative Programme speech on 12 May that “in 21st century Britain, prejudice is no longer acceptable.” Yet this week I encountered an example of “age discrimination” when I requested a renewal quotation for my buildings insurance and, whilst I have never made a claim on my buildings insurance, I was refused a quotation on the grounds of age – the company would not offer such insurance to anyone over the age of 79 years!

I am looking to you, as Prime Minister, to clearly state your intention to fully ban age discrimination in the forthcoming Equality Bill and to deliver the promise you made last September.


Ken W Lacey MBE
Chairman, Weston-super-Mare Senior Citizens Forum