Tory leadership candidate Kemi Badenoch has said the Equality Act being misinterpreted has “fed a lot of the discontent” seen in communities across the UK.

The Equality Act 2010 legally protects people from discrimination in the workplace and in wider society, replacing previous anti-discrimination laws in relation to disability, age, gender and race with a single Act.

During her tenure as minister for women and equalities Ms Badenoch was critical of the Equality Act, specifically relating to trans women in female spaces.

After violent racist disorder across England in response to the killing of three young girls in Southport, allegations were made of “two-tier policing”, with claims that officers are overly lenient with protesters of progressive causes or racial minorities.

In an online rally, Ms Badenoch, who is currently the shadow housing and communities secretary, was asked about society “becoming more factionalised”.

She said: “I think that one of the things we need to strongly emphasise is equality under the law.

“There are too many people who have misinterpreted the Equality Act and think that there are different groups which are protected in different ways. That is not true.

“It is one of the things that has fed a lot of the discontent within communities, whether they’re complaining about two-tier policing or about the equality law being misapplied. You see it, whether it’s in the battles between women and trans rights activists, between different religions, between men and women, between black and white.

“We can stop all that, but we need to make sure that we give people something common.”

She added: “Allowing the cultural zeitgeist to talk as if we are all in different factions or we’re all in different identity groups is one of the reasons why people are beginning to see more difference rather than see more in common.”

If another party decides that it wants to be the party of the right, what we should do as Conservatives is be better than them

At last month’s General Election the Conservatives suffered the party’s worst loss in history, coming third in many seats to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.

Ms Badenoch ruled out a Tory merger with Reform, saying: “The best way to deal with that problem is being our authentic selves.

“I believe in free and fair competition. If another party decides that it wants to be the party of the right, what we should do as Conservatives is be better than them. We don’t need to merge with another party.

“In a free and fair market of ideas, we should be defeating the ideas of Reform, and every other party for that matter. A merger will just add to the confusion.

“If we have not yet decided who we are and what the Conservative Party is about, if we are still arguing with ourselves, how does merging with another party fix that? We’re just going to be arguing with more people.”

Ms Badenoch also criticised the Liberal Democrats, describing them as an “incoherent party” of “fantasists”, and called on the Tories to “take the fight” to their neighbours on the opposition benches.

The truth is the Lib Dems are an incoherent party. They are a party of fantasists

Asked how the party should tackle the Lib Dems she said: “The same way we handle Labour and Reform – by being better than them.

“We are a much broader, a deeper movement than they are. We are a broader church. We can do better than them.

“The truth is the Lib Dems are an incoherent party. They are a party of fantasists.

“They have policies where they want people, they want the country to have open borders, but they don’t want to build any more housing.

“What we don’t do is take the fight to the Lib Dems, and we need to do that.

“So being better than them is the basic but making sure that we don’t allow them to get away with many of the untruths that they put out.”

The MP for North West Essex is one of six Tory leadership hopefuls, and will face off against James Cleverly, Robert Jenrick, Dame Priti Patel, Mel Stride and Tom Tugendhat.

With the Conservatives only outperforming Labour in the over-60s age category, Ms Badenoch shared concerns about their ability to attract support from younger voters.

She said: “We also need to make sure that we have policies that young people can see are targeted towards them. Many young people I speak to think that we’re a party for old people, and that is not true.

“We need to make sure that they have something to aspire to. We have always been the party of aspiration.

“Some of that will be around home ownership. If people don’t put roots down and start families, have homes, they’re not going to become Conservatives.”

Ms Badenoch’s campaign is titled Renewal 2030 as she pledges to make the Tories “ready to serve our country again”.