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Backing Brexit is not a protected belief under equalities law, an employment tribunal has ruled as a former UKIP councillor was found to have been sacked for sharing offensive social media posts about immigrants.
Colette Fairbanks was fired by drug and alcohol charity Change Grow Live over the offensive posts but lost a claim that she was bullied and harassed by her employer for supporting Britain’s departure from the EU.
She argued that her political views were philosophical beliefs, protected by the Equality Act, pointing to her support for Brexit, opposition to illegal immigration and her desire for the UK to pull out of the European Convention on Human Rights.
But a tribunal found that none of the beliefs are protected by the Equality Act, with employment judge Paul Jumble saying wanting to quit the EU is an opinion and not a philosophical belief.
Dismissing the claim, Mr Jumble said: “There has to be a distinction between a philosophical belief and a strongly held opinion. If, for example, ‘wanting to leave the EU’ was held to be a philosophical belief, then more than half the British electorate would have a belief that fell within [equality laws], which could not be the intention of the legislation.
“Despite some probing, both by the tribunal and in cross-examination, no coherent belief or set of beliefs was forthcoming. On balance, the tribunal found that the claimant had genuinely held opinions and views but she did not convince the tribunal that she had any underlying philosophical belief.”
Ms Fairbanks began working for the charity in October 2022, and she told the court she was “bullied and harassed” from then on. She was sacked last July over the offensive X posts, but denied one of the responsible accounts belonged to her.
She served as a UKIP councillor in Wyre, Lancashire, from 2017 to 2019, which her manager was informed of in February 2023.
