The long-awaited Single Equalities Bill will shortly be eating up much of my time in Parliament as it wends its way through the legislative process and it falls slap bang in the middle of my job in the Liberal Democrat Shadow Cabinet on youth and equalities.

The Bill represents real opportunity. I think I’m right in saying that when is comes to equality legislation there have been nine separate Acts, four European Directives and countless other regulations spanning four decades.

To say discrimination legislation is a bit bitty and fragment is an understatement. Therefore a new Bill will be a simplifying and tidying up undertaking. However, for me the Bill must be more than mere gardening exercise, it must tackle some of the inequalities between these various laws that lead to unequal treatment.

There are numerous anomalies that have been a product of this piecemeal, almost organic evolution of legislation. From the Government’s statements and what I have heard in the House of Commons, I would expect most, if not all, of these oddities to be corrected.

Moving beyond that, the Bill offers the chance to achieve a three-fold success: firstly – to make discrimination more difficult; secondly – to make discrimination legislation more effective; thirdly – to insist that any exceptions to this Act are on the face of the legislation.

If these three things are not in the Bill – then we will be tabling amendments to these effects.

Of course we wait with baited breadth to see which side the Government comes down on some important points. The discrepancy in the definition of a comparator between Equal Pay Act and other Acts certainly needs sorting. The Liberal Democrats would hope to see the abolition of the need for a real comparator. We believe this would do more to accelerate equality by making it easier for an individual to bring equal pay claims.

I also believe we should apply imaginative – and even edgy – thinking across all three areas. The Government goes through criminal justice bills like it does hot dinners. Sadly, inequality does not get the same attention – so we should be willing to be imaginative in making the most of the options the Bill will present. I’ve blogged already about employment ideas – and will blog about more shortly!