Age of Eligibility for Election to Public Office (Hansard, 18 June 2002)

§ Lord Sainsbury of Turville

The Employment Directive (2000/78) includes proposals for outlawing discrimination in employment and in vocational training on the new grounds of not only age but also sexual orientation and religion or belief. We have already undertaken widespread consultation inTowards Equality and Diversity to identify what age-related practices employers have and why they might need to retain them. We will be consulting again on a specific set of proposals in the light of responses and legal advice. Differences of treatment on the grounds of age are capable of objective justification under the directive in certain circumstances. The question of whether the age of eligibility for election to public office should be lowered in the light of the directive is one we are considering currently.