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    This answer is mostly sound, but with a very important caveat: political beliefs often fail to attract protection under Grainger (usually on Grainger II - belief vs opinion). Case law is full of commentary on this point. You can succeed but it depends on the nature of the belief. "The bank closed my account because I'm a Conservative" will fail - case law is clear that support of a political party doesn't qualify. "The bank closed my account because I have a deeply held philosophical belief in socialism" might succeed because it's about the underlying philosophy and not the politics. Commented Jan 23 at 12:12
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    There's also a minefield when it comes to determining the "because of" question and you have to satisfy the court that it's the actual reason and not just part of the context. For example, in Omooba v Michael Garrett Associates Ltd [2024] EAT 30, a theatre actor was fired for a social media post about her anti-LGBT views. The defendant successfully argued that they fired her because of the subsequent public backlash and not because of the belief itself. It's very fact dependent. Commented Jan 23 at 12:21
  • @JBentley When you say "case law is clear that support of a political party doesn't qualify" can you give examples of that case law? Is this just case law that saying a particular party - e.g. the Conservative Party - did not qualify in a particular case or that discrimination based on any party of whatever complexion will never qualify? Commented Jan 23 at 17:29
  • Sure. I'm in the middle of writing skeleton arguments for a belief-based trial so when I come across the relevant cases I'll delete this comment and cite them. For now, the key point is the McClintock / Grainger II test. A political affiliation ("I support the Conservative party") fails because it's just an opinion based on currently available information. You're a Conservative now, but next year you might be a Lib Dem because of what you read in the news. If you instead believe in an "ism" its more likely you have a core set of underlying beliefs that are more firmly held. Commented Jan 23 at 20:06
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    Actually I found a citation very quickly - in Grainger itself! Paragraph 28: "As appears from the passage in Hansard, the Attorney General suggested that 'support of a political party' might not meet the description of a philosophical belief. That must surely be so, but that does not mean that a belief in a political philosophy or doctrine would not qualify." The rest of the paragraph provides elaboration. Commented Jan 23 at 20:15