Theresa May, the Home Secretary, will say today that the Government is axing the measure, which had been dubbed “socialism in one clause”.
A ‘socio-economic duty’ on public bodies was written into the Equality Act by the then-Equalities minister Harriet Harman earlier this year.
However the duty – dubbed “Harman’s Law” - was never enacted, and the Coalition had been reviewing the measure.
Ministers have now decided not to enact it and will look at ways to repeal the measure.
In a speech today, Mrs May will say the Government is "scrapping Harman’s Law for good”, claiming that “it would have been just another bureaucratic box to be ticked".
She is likely to warn: "It would have meant more time filling in forms and less time focusing on policies that will make a real difference to people’s life chances.”
The measure was the first time that any Government had made it an objective of all public bodies to reduce inequality.
Education authorities would have had to encourage parents from poor backgrounds to apply for successful schools in their area.
Regional development agencies could also have changed criteria for grants so that bids from deprived areas were more likely to succeed. Health bodies would have had to spend some of their budget in areas with the worse health records
Mrs May will warn that the measure could have meant public spending was “permanently” focused on deprived parts of the country.
She is expected to say: “At its worst, it could have meant public spending permanently skewed towards certain parts of the country.
“Valued public services meant to benefit everyone in the community would have been closed down in some areas and reopened in others.”
She will say that “council services like bin collections and bus routes” would have been designed not “on the basis of practical need but on this one politically-motivated target.
“You can’t solve a problem as complex as inequality in one legal clause. The idea that they could was symptomatic of Labour’s approach to Britain’s problems.
"They thought they could make people’s lives better by simply passing a law saying that they should be made better.That was as ridiculous as it was simplistic and that is why we are scrapping Harman’s Law for good.”
A strategy document setting out the Government’s approach to equalities will be published in several weeks’ time.
The Government has just finished a consultation on a new “public sector duty” to to require public bodies to publish details of the gender and race of their staff, as well as information on how many have disabilities, from April next year.
In January, Mrs Harman said: “A person’s socio-economic background is still a key factor in determining their life chances – how they get on at school, the chances of continuing with their education, their employment prospects and their health.
“This new legal duty will fall on every strategic body that affects these life chances and will be a catalyst for change so that more people have a better chance to enjoy a higher standard of living.
“Improving opportunities for everyone will be at the core of all key public services, and is a crucial part of the Equality Bill.”
