Letter: Economic nonsense of age discrimination

From Mr Andrew Russell

Sir: Harriet Harman, MP, and Ian McCartney, MP, this week unveiled the Labour leadership's policy on outlawing age discrimination in employment. We hope that the country's 6 million disabled people, who have been waiting for over a decade for full and enforceable civil rights, will not be forgotten in this new anti-discrimination initiative.

The Disability Discrimination Bill before Parliament still does not measure up on many counts - not least because it fails to provide an enforcement body which will help individual disabled people take their cases forward. The Bill fails to give the kind of protection presently afforded to women and ethnic minorities. We hope politicians will remember that there is some unfinished business waiting to be done for disabled people.

Yours faithfully,

Andrew Russell

Executive Director

Association for Spina Bifida

and Hydrocephalus

Peterborough