Call to scrap human rights watchdog

The UK's human-rights watchdog should be scrapped because it contributes "very little to meaningful equality", a think-tank claims in a report issued today.

The civil society group Civitas says that the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) costs millions of pounds a year and uses statistics in an illogical way. It also accused the body of taking a "narrow approach to social policy" which is neither reasonable nor useful.

But the EHRC rejects the Civitas claims, and says its job is to "start a debate on issues where we could see better outcomes for people suffering unfair disadvantages".