Rishi Sunak has promised that he would end ‘woke nonsense’ if he Conservative Party leadership contest through revision of the Equalities Act.
The former chancellor previously claimed that he has “no interest in waging a so-called culture war.”
But in another U-turn, he vowed to “end the brainwashing, vandalism and finger-pointing” and “protect British liberties.”
Mr Sunak vowed in attempt to lure Tory members away from backing match rival Liz Truss.
He says he wants to preserve gender-related words like “wife” and “mother” by making sex mean biological sex in the 2010 Equality Act.
If he becomes prime minister, he would like the law to clarify that gender self-identification has no legal force.
In his first public policy pledge at the start of the leadership contest, he said he would oppose allowing biological men to compete against women in sports and protect same-sex services.
He also wants to reform sex education in schools to ensure that students are ‘screened from inappropriate material’.
Mr Sunak pledged to protect freedom of expression by amending the Public Sector Equality Duty to ensure that organizations are “open and welcoming” to people of different political opinions and religious and philosophical worldviews.
He will tell supporters in West Sussex today that his government will “protect our shared cultural, historical and philosophical heritage”.
“What’s the point of putting the bulldozers in the green belt if we allow left-wing agitators to bulldoze our history, our traditions and our fundamental values?” he will say.
Whether it’s tearing down statues of historical figures, replacing the school curriculum with anti-British propaganda, or rewriting the English language so we don’t even use words like ‘man’, ‘woman’ or ‘mother’ can use without hearing that we are offending someone?
‘We are not the aggressors; we have no interest in fighting a so-called culture war.
“But we are determined to end the brainwashing, vandalism and pointing fingers.
‘Too often existing legislation is used for social engineering that no one has given permission for.
The worst offender in this regard is the Equality Act 2010, conceived in the dog days of the last Labor government.
‘It has been a Trojan horse that has allowed all kinds of waking nonsense to permeate public life.
‘It has to stop. My government would review the law to make sure we maintain legitimate protections and stop mission creep.
“Our laws must protect freedom of speech, prevent biological men from participating in women’s sports and allow children to be children.”
Political rival Liz Truss also swore she would prefer same-sex places, telling a Tory audience on Thursday that she supports policies that guarantee schoolgirls can go to a toilet in a safe environment.
She said, “I’ve been very clear that single-person spaces need to be protected.”
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