SIR – Although I believe Pope Benedict XVI’s concerns about Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman’s controversial ‘equity’ legislation are both genuine and well-founded, I cannot understand why people in this country seem ignorant of the fact that so many of our existing laws do not apply equally to all citizens across the country.
Surely if equality is what matters, that is the problem that needs to be addressed before any new laws are created?
Some anomalies date back hundreds of years, eg the 1707 Act of Union with Scotland, where a different legal system was allowed to continue. Others are as recent as the mid-20th century, eg on inheritance when a person dies ‘intestate’, where certain classes of relative are excluded, but only in England and Wales!
If we live in a United Kingdom, then it is essential that every citizen should live under the same rules, and it is high time it was made so.
D S Boyes, Rodley Lane, Bramley, Leeds
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